Re: OT: Gravity, Dark Energy, Universal expansion
 

The moon would only be drifting closer if it started out inside geosynchronous orbit. Since in that case it would be going around more than once per day, and thus pull the surface along.
It would thus spin up the earth at the expense of its own orbit until doomsday.

Re: OT: Gravity, Dark Energy, Universal expansion
 

Interesting gravity talk. I am in the process of reading A Fire Upon the Deep. Has some interesting gravity concepts in there.

Re: OT: Gravity, Dark Energy, Universal expansion
 

Dark Matter and Dark Energy are bad science... they are no more than the flying spaghetti monster outside religion.

Basic Logic dictates something the *fudge* is wrong...
Gravity was confirmed because everywhere in the universe we looked, things behaved as gravity predicted.
Dark Matter is now confirmed because everywhere in the universe we look, things do not behave as gravity predicted.
That reasoning is Paris Hilton daft... and people are getting PhD's for it.

It is important to note:
distances and velocities in astrophysics are not beyond question... lots of assumptions, and simplifications, with little attention to other factors that could skew the results. I would question these long before adding new material to universal model.

Also, has anyone bothered to measure the net charge of a galaxy? or the interaction with the galactic magnetic field with the extragalactic wind? Gravity isn't alone in the universe...

Dark Energy is worse... especially with that horrid little article that made the news, about a tipping point where all matter would fly apart at the speed of light. Total nonsense, that 'theory' claimed a density of dark energy that resulted in more dark energy as the universe expanded. Poppycock! Space having an inherent density of anything violates relativity, since volume is not a constant in all reference frames.

*grumble*

Re: OT: Gravity, Dark Energy, Universal expansion
 

As far as the universe goes, we havn't even got out into our yard.

Re: OT: Gravity, Dark Energy, Universal expansion
 

We can barely see the yard. We're still stuck in our crib. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: OT: Gravity, Dark Energy, Universal expansion
 

...So THAT'S why there's so much whining, screaming and hitting going on.

Re: OT: Gravity, Dark Energy, Universal expansion
 

If the universe is expanding at the speed of light perpendicular to three-space, then the size of the universe in any direction is increasing at pi times the speed of light. This means that "you can't get there from here" is literally true for most of the universe.

Re: OT: Gravity, Dark Energy, Universal expansion
 

I think you are on crack because while i understand most of the words you are using, using them in conjuction drives me kinda insane :p

Re: OT: Gravity, Dark Energy, Universal expansion
 

The universe expands like the surface of a 4D balloon, with the surface being three-space.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2417/...1705b2cb_o.jpg

But the rub is... not only is the far side of the universe is 'farther away' than the big bang... it is so far away that light from one side will never meet light from the other... an effective 3.1415c receding velocity due to spatial expansion.

Re: OT: Gravity, Dark Energy, Universal expansion
 

I tend to have that effect on people from time to time http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif