Don't insult me. Of course I believe in gravity. I can test gravity (at least I can test Newton's law of gravity) right here on earth. The results of this test will remain consistent when I repeat the test elsewhere.
On the other hand, all the talk of "dark matter" makes me wonder if there's some aspect of gravity we have yet to discover. I still believe in gravity, but I acknowledge that Newton's concept of gravity was refined upon by Einstein. There may still be room for further refinement by future scientists.
The Psuedoscience Thread
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samsonlonghair
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Re: The Psuedoscience Thread
There is definitely room for refinement. We don't have a working model of gravity at atomic scale. That's one of the current holy grails of modern physics.samsonlonghair wrote:Don't insult me. Of course I believe in gravity. I can test gravity (at least I can test Newton's law of gravity) right here on earth. The results of this test will remain consistent when I repeat the test elsewhere.
On the other hand, all the talk of "dark matter" makes me wonder if there's some aspect of gravity we have yet to discover. I still believe in gravity, but I acknowledge that Newton's concept of gravity was refined upon by Einstein. There may still be room for further refinement by future scientists.
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Re: The Psuedoscience Thread
It wasn't an insult but a serious question. Gravity is a theory and you don't believe in theories so I asked.samsonlonghair wrote:Don't insult me. Of course I believe in gravity. I can test gravity (at least I can test Newton's law of gravity) right here on earth. The results of this test will remain consistent when I repeat the test elsewhere.
On the other hand, all the talk of "dark matter" makes me wonder if there's some aspect of gravity we have yet to discover. I still believe in gravity, but I acknowledge that Newton's concept of gravity was refined upon by Einstein. There may still be room for further refinement by future scientists.
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samsonlonghair
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Re: The Psuedoscience Thread
Two points here:
1. Gravity is a law, not just a theory. Even still, when scientists use the word, "theory," they mean something a little more concrete than the layman.
2. I didn't say I don't believe in any theories. I said,
By the weigh (see what I did there?) there's a fun video on this page of an astronaut dropping a hammer and a feather at the same time. Middle school physics teaches us what will happen, but it's still fun to see science in action.
I don't believe that our understanding of gravity is perfect or complete. As Popo mentioned,
1. Gravity is a law, not just a theory. Even still, when scientists use the word, "theory," they mean something a little more concrete than the layman.
2. I didn't say I don't believe in any theories. I said,
I'm a skeptic. I don't generally believe in anything I can't measure, test, and verify. There are a few exceptions, but not many. Gravity is measurable (or at least weight is measurable). Gravity can be tested and verified. If the force of gravity is 0.98 Newtons at sea level (there's another tangent I could go off), and I weigh 81 kilograms, I can reason that there's 793 Newtons of force holding me securely to the earth.I am skeptical of a number of things modern science theorizes.
By the weigh (see what I did there?) there's a fun video on this page of an astronaut dropping a hammer and a feather at the same time. Middle school physics teaches us what will happen, but it's still fun to see science in action.
I don't believe that our understanding of gravity is perfect or complete. As Popo mentioned,
See? I'm not quite as crazy as I initially seem. I'm just a little more skeptical than most.MrPopo wrote:There is definitely room for refinement. We don't have a working model of gravity at atomic scale.