Are Masses Pulled or Pushed Toward Each Other

Are Masses Pulled or Pushed Toward Each Other?

by Paul VanRaden

For a 2024 update on this theory, see VanRaden, 2024

In Isaac Newton’s (1687) theory, apples fell and planets orbited because of gravity. In Albert Einstein’s (1918) theory, masses moved in curves or toward each other because they curved the space nearby. In the theories of gravity and general relativity, masses pulled on each other from a distance. The two theories were similar except that gravity’s pull had no delay whereas the curves of general relativity moved at the speed of light. In Caasi Notwen’s (2002) theory of no gravity, no magical force of distant attraction or repulsion is needed. Masses simply move in the direction that they are hit.

No gravity is needed to keep masses in orbit. If hit by very many, very small, very fast moving particles from all directions, masses will orbit or move toward each other without gravity. If two masses are near each other, each blocks some of the small particles that would have hit the other. An apple falls because fewer particles hit it from the bottom than from the top. The earth blocks many of the small particles that otherwise would have hit the apple from below. The moon circles the earth because fewer particles hit the moon on the side toward the earth. Masses move toward each other because they are pushed instead of pulled.

Motions of masses agree well with the math of Newton and Einstein. Resting masses tend to keep still and moving masses tend to remain moving in straight lines (Newton’s first law). When a moving mass hits a resting mass, the speed and direction of both change, but the weighted average of the two speeds and directions remains constant. Thus, large masses change speed and direction by less than small masses when the two interact (Newton’s second law). For any mass to gain speed or change direction, other masses must lose speed or move in the opposite direction (Newton’s third law).

Orbiting masses do not contact each other directly but appear to act from a distance. Very distant masses go their separate ways unaffected by each other, but closer masses interact and can circle each other such as the earth around the sun.

Earth’s path deflects about 1 degree per day toward the sun as compared to an imaginary straight line. In addition to traveling forward over a billion meters each day, earth’s path curves toward the sun by 3.5 million meters each day. The speed and mass of the extra particles that hit the earth each day on the side away from the sun as compared to the side toward the sun must equal the earth’s change in direction (3.5 million meters) multiplied by its mass (6 x 10²⁷ grams) or 2.1 x 10³⁴ gram meters per day. The greater the mass of particles hitting the earth, the less change in speed they must have to cause the earth’s change in direction. For example, the push on earth could be caused by a very fine spray of 2.1 grams per day of very small particles hitting the earth at a speed of 10³⁴ meters per day or a huge quantity of particles that decelerate just a bit as they pass thru the earth.

The particles that hit the earth are not all one size but come in a range of sizes and speeds. Particles larger than a meter in size (meteorites) hit the earth only rarely, but about 50 million grams of dust hit the earth each day. More of these particles tend to hit the earth on the side away from the sun because the sun absorbs but doesn’t radiate dust. However, the sun radiates visible light and other rays which hit the earth at speeds up to 3 x 10¹¹ meters per day and tend to push the earth away. The sun “attracts” the earth because the mass times the speed of the particles blocked by the sun is greater than the mass times the speed of the particles radiated.

A mass that is far away blocks fewer particles than a mass close by. A mass twice as far away appears to be half as large. If a mass with radius r moves to a larger distance d away from you, its apparent size decreases in proportion to r / d. The number of particles that it blocks decreases in proportion to (r / d) squared or the area of the sky that is covered up. As two masses with constant radius move further apart, the number of particles that each blocks from hitting the other decreases in proportion to the square of the distance between them. Newton discovered this same formula (his fourth law of motion), but explained it as a pull instead of a difference in push.

More particles that pass through the center of a sphere are blocked than those which miss the center and only pass through an outer shell. The number of particles blocked by each outer shell is proportional to the square of the shell’s outer radius minus the square of its inner radius (see Figure 1). Let b1, b2, and b3 be the proportion of particles blocked that pass through the center of a sphere (radius r1), a middle shell (from r1 to r2), and an outer shell (from r2 to r). Total particles blocked is the sum [b1 r1**2 + b2 (r2**2 - r1**2) + b3 (r**2 - r2**2)] / d**2 because each shell blocks the area between its outer and inner radius, and the apparent size of each shell decreases in proportion to d. Thus, the total number of particles blocked by a distant sphere is proportional to the square of its distance from you. A sphere twice as far away appears to be ½ as large and blocks 1/4 as many particles. Masses block particles that would have hit you and thus appear to pull you in their direction.

Very small, very fast particles may pass thru even a large sphere such as the earth without hitting it. Most of these particles are not blocked by the earth’s surface, because their downward push continues below the surface, and masses do not weigh less in a cave or under a roof than out in the open. The effects of gravity were assumed by Newton and Einstein to be additive. When the earth, moon, and sun are in a straight line (during an eclipse), the combined pull of the moon and sun was assumed to be the sum of their separate pulls. The new theory assumes that slightly fewer particles are blocked by the moon during an eclipse because some particles already were blocked by the sun.

A resting mass remains at rest either because it is hit by no particles or it is hit by the same number of particles from all sides. A moving mass is hit by more particles from ahead than from behind and could gradually slow down until at rest. However, if the particles from ahead and behind both decelerate by the same amount when passing thru a moving mass, the moving mass will not decelerate. An orbiting mass is, on the average, at rest. Suppose the sun is at rest. The earth is pushed in one direction at one time of the year and in exactly the opposite direction six months later. A steady supply of small but fast-moving particles from all directions all during the year keeps the earth in a steady orbit.

The pull of gravity was assumed to travel infinitely fast. The pull of general relativity was assumed to travel at the speed of light. In the theory of no gravity, the particles blocked by any mass have an average speed. The effect of one mass on another travels outward from the mass at that speed. For the motions of masses to agree with Einstein's general relativity, the responsible particles would need to move at the speed of light.

The small particles that hit all masses may be referred to as the ether. These particles can’t be detected individually, but the motions of planets and apples allow us to calculate the force of the collisions. Instead of measuring the force of gravity, we could measure the ether pressure. As an analogy, air is mostly open space but also includes many individual particles called molecules and atoms that are too small to see. Water is also made up of small molecules, but with many more per unit of space. We know that these small particles exist because we can feel the push of the wind and the rain on our skin even if we can’t see the particles directly. Similarly, a vacuum does not pull us; instead we are pushed toward it by air pressure.

Ether pressure might vary from place to place in the universe in the same way that air pressure varies in earth’s atmosphere. Ether pressure may not be a universal constant as gravity was assumed to be by Newton and Einstein. If the ether pressure would drop for any reason, the orbits of the moon and the planets would expand. Apples would fall more slowly. Each mass would block fewer particles from hitting the others. The pressures on the outer (away) side and inner (near) side would both be reduced in proportion to the drop in pressure, resulting in a smaller pressure difference and a smaller push toward each other.

The small mistakes and magical qualities of Newton’s gravity and Einstein's curved space are reflected in a line from a 1982 song by the Steve Miller Band: “Abracadabra, I want to reach out and grab ya.” Caasi Notwen’s theory of no gravity may be useful if it provides better predictions or provides the same predictions using a simpler model. Newton’s first three laws of motion are sufficient to explain orbits. His fourth law, the law of gravity, is not needed. Masses each block some particles that would have hit the other. Nearby masses are pushed toward each other. Instead of being pulled to the earth, an apple gets pushed down by the higher ether pressure above than below.

Gravity may be a figment of Newton’s imagination. With ether pressure as a substitute theory, people need not fall for the theory of gravity. Even Isaac did not fall for the theory, and wrote in 1692 “That one body may act upon another at a distance through a vacuum without the mediation of anything else, by and through which their action and force may be conveyed from one another, is to me so great an absurdity that, I believe, no man who has in philosophic matters a competent faculty of thinking could ever fall into it.”

References:

Einstein, Albert. 1918. Prinzipielles zur allgemeinen relativitatstheorie. Annalen der Physik 55:241-244.

Miller, Steve. 1982. Abracadabra. Capitol Records.

Newton, Isaac. 1687. Philosophie naturalis principia mathematica. London.

Notwen, Caasi. 2002. The theory of no gravity.