The Pulling factor.
Have you ever wondered, what are the forces that keep universe such functional? Well, it will be interesting to study all those forces and simultaneously you may get a bit worried that how all those huge total number of forces can be studied. But, there is no need to worry. Although the universe is such great (literally), it is driven by only four forces, yes you saw it right, only four forces. These four forces are famously known as fundamental forces. The fundamental forces are 1.Electromagnetic Force. 2. Gravitation. 3. Weak nuclear force. 4. Strong Nuclear force.
Yes, they are only four, but are found to be the cause of all known phenomenon in this universe. Among these gravitation is pretty special due some reasons. And here it is the Gravitation that will be discussed.
Gravitation is the weakest of the all known fundamental forces. As the name suggest, strong nuclear force is the strongest of all, but is very short ranged. Gravitation is special because it has the longest range of action, and because of its special character, that is, it is non-repulsive, that means it only attract things (all other forces are both attractive and repulsive based on some conditions specific to them).
Do you know? When gravitation was was first discovered? I’m damn sure that you are thinking of Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree while an apple is falling on his head. Well, it is not the fact, gravitation was first noticed in 1st century BCE (much before Newton) in Indian subcontinent by an Indian mathematician and astronomer named Brahmagupta, and another Indian Aryabhata described heliocentric view of solar system on the basis of gravitation which they called गुरुत्वाकर्षणम् (gurutvākarṣaṇam). Even it is not true that apple fall on his head. In his publication Newton said he was in a mood to think deeply and then he saw an apple falling and that sparkled his mind with the idea of an attractive force and he called it gravitation.
Gravitation is special for one more reason that is its existence. In his general theory of relativity Albert Einstein described Gravitation as not a force but, as a consequence of masses moving straight ahead in a curved spacetime caused by the uneven distribution of masses across the universe. This proposition
Later, gravitation was incorporated with quantum field theory and became quantum gravity, where exchange of graviton (a quantum particle) is considered as the cause of gravitational attraction. Better not to go that way.
But, gravitation is very real. As it describe our standing on earth right now. But what if it is an illusion?
But how can it be? Here is how.
As like the rest is an illusion (described in another article titled “The state of no motion.”) gravitation too can be such an illusion.
We will still be standing on earth even when we are just floating in space and earth is pushing toward us. The case will be the same. The case will only be justified by someone who is not affected by earth’s very own gravity (your choice to take it as Newtonian or Einsteinian.) meanwhile in deep space unaffected by any heavy mass and obviously being able to observe both the man and earth.
Think over it and let me know your thought in comment section.
"The birth of science as we know it arguably began with Isaac Newton's formulation of the laws of gravitation and motion. It is not exaggeration to say that physics was reborn in the early 20th-century with the twin revolution of quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity." - Paul Davis
