The Natural Effects of Relativity on the Laws of Gravity.
Copyright © 2008, 2009 David V Connell.
The emergence of Relativity around the turn of the 20th century, in particular Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity (STR [1]), gave physicists a new dimension for research into the fundamental laws of nature, but also created new opportunities for making wrong assumptions and other mistakes. Gravity is certainly no exception. Next to Relativity, it is probably the most misunderstood subject in physics, as you will see.
We begin this analysis by listing some of the known facts, postulations and assumptions associated with gravity:-
1. It is an attractive force (F) between objects made of mass.
2. It obeys an inverse square law with distance (d) between objects.
3. It is an inherent property of mass and has led to the concept of "gravitational mass".
4. Gravitational mass has been 'found' to be equal to inertial mass (which is the constant of proportionality between force and acceleration).
5. A gravitational field affects the frequencies of e/m radiation emitted in it or passing through it.
6. Newton's Law of Gravity, derived from Kepler's Laws of planetary motion, incorporates the first three items above. It is expressed mathematically as F = GmM/d², where m and M are gravitational masses and G is the mathematical factor of proportionality (which is expected to be a universal constant).
Let us consider item 5 above. By the principle of Conservation of Energy, one of the relativistic effects of moving an emitting object to a higher gravitational potential is an increase in mass, which causes, as predicted by Bohr's frequency equation [2], the same proportional increase in the resonant frequencies of the emitted spectrum, and this is confirmed by experimental observations [3]. That is, the increase in mass is confirmed to be the cause of the increase in frequency. Mass is a form of energy, so an increase in mass requires the addition of energy, which in this case comes from the work done to move the object to the new location against an opposing force. Therefore the increase in mass could be caused by ANY conservative force opposing the movement of the object, and is not necessarily due to gravity. If gravity also causes the same frequency effect, as has been widely assumed, it would be doubled, but this disagrees with observations; and the theoretical derivations of this effect (in text books) from gravitational causes leaves much to be desired.
Therefore we can safely say that a change of gravitational potential does not directly cause relativistic effects, but the addition of energy does. A light source that absorbs energy increases its mass and emits reduced frequencies, and a gravity field can not change it; it is not an energy field and cannot supply the energy needed.
The different cause of the frequency change is important because of the assumed effects. If no external energy is applied to an object and the gravitational potential is changed, as could be caused by moving a large mass much closer to a test object, no relativistic changes should occur to the test object, but STR predicts otherwise.
Similarly, for an object in free fall in a gravitational field, no external energy is being supplied so there can be NO relativistic effects, even though the gravitational potential IS changing. If the falling object is then brought to rest at its original altitude, in its own frame of reference (FoR) energy is given up (subtracted) and its natural frequencies return to their original values. The apparent mass of the falling object reduces as the KE increases until the object is brought to rest, when the kinetic energy becomes zero and the apparent mass returns to its original rest value.
Another consequence of the different cause of frequency change is that a ray of light will NOT be bent on passing through a gravitational field. A ray of light is not made of matter or mass, so has no gravitational field and gravity requires two gravitational fields to interact to cause attraction. For gravity to affect light takes a strong imagination. The spectrum of radiation from a stationary light source is emitted at a lower frequency only when the energy level (potential energy) of its source is reduced, such as when it is moved into a stronger gravitational field (which reduces its mass). The Doppler Effect of relative motion is not a Relativity effect (in the context used herein), as it does not affect the source of the radiation.
It is unfortunate that experiments have, in the past, been misinterpreted, or observational data carefully selected, to apparently agree with the then accepted theory. And some desirable experiments have just not been done.
Now let us consider the equation in item 6 carefully. It involves the masses of two objects and the distance between them to obtain the total force of attraction, but, surely the equation should contain the individual forces of attraction, which we already know exist. Yet the assumption was made that they are proportional to "gravitational mass". The force of attraction could emanate from some other property of an object associated with mass, in which case the gravitational masses in Newton's equation would be replaced with non-mass items. But, in practice, both gravitational masses and such non-mass items are unknown quantities, so inertial masses are used in the calculations. Hence, the derived value of G incorporates the relation between inertial mass and the source of attraction, whether that be mass or non-mass, and also assumes the relation is constant. By measuring F the equation only supplies the value of G for two particular inertial masses at a particular gravitational potential. Hence it may not be a true universal constant if, say, it also varies with the substances comprising the masses, or with altitude.
Now, it so happens that when the known relativistic effects due to adding energy to an object without resulting motion (as discussed above, mass and frequency increase by a certain amount and lengths decrease by the same proportional amount) are applied to the dimensions of G , it is found that the its value is reduced if the masses are inertial, but not changed if a non-mass source replaces each inertial mass. This fact has been overlooked or ignored for many decades. Since the value of G should, indubitably, NOT CHANGE in these circumstances, the attractive force must emanate from non-mass, and the value of G obtained above will incorporate the factors as specified above. Inertial masses still increase in the above experiment from the work done, but the force of attraction of the masses at the same distance apart does not change, so the "home frame" values of mass must be used in the calculations at all times.
Hence gravitational mass does not exist and experiments purporting to prove equality with inertial mass must, unwittingly, be assuming it, or be comparing two inertial masses. Even if the term "gravitational mass" is used to mean "the real source of gravity", it cannot be equal to inertial mass at two different altitudes as it is not mass.
This leaves us with the question "what is the non-mass cause of the attractive force emanating from massive objects?".
The answer to that question can only be the attractive force of unlike electrostatic charges being very slightly larger than the repulsive force between like charges, supplied by the nucleons and electrons in atoms, as proposed by Kopernicky[3] and demonstrated by experiments such as the "Inchworm" experiment many years ago, but ignored for whatever reasons. Thus the weight of an atom emanates from the electrostatic fields associated with it, and its inertial mass is the actual structural mass. Since it is known that a neutron has weight it is necessary that it has both types of charge, separated by some distance, to produce a net attractive force. Particles with no paired electrotatic charges produce no gravitational field, singly charged particles only have an electrostatic field, billions upon billions of times stronger.
It is probable that the opposite charges on protons and neutrons in the nucleus are in near-contact (but do not destroy each other). These near-contact forces are far greater than those from separated charges, probably being the source of the "strong force", while the positive charges on the neutrons are relatively well separated.
Newton's Law of Gravity changes to F = GkNn/d², where k is a factor such that kNn is numerically equal to the inertial masses Mm at the home location (to keep the same value for G). As hinted above, the values of G may not be the same when measured if different substances are used (at the same altitude, of course). This implies that the relation between attractive force and inertial mass may vary between substances and if this were so, the ratio of mass number to atomic mass would not be constant between different elements, WHICH IS TRUE, even when allowance is made for the binding energy of nuclei.
To be continued