Gravitational Constant: What Influences Its Value?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the factors that may influence the value of the gravitational constant (G) and its potential relationships with other physical constants, such as epsilon naught (ε₀) and mu naught (μ₀). Participants explore theoretical implications and seek references to existing literature on the topic.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions what influences the gravitational constant and suggests there may be mathematical relations in the universe that lead to its value.
  • Another participant provides a link to a resource discussing experiments that measure potential changes in the gravitational constant over time.
  • A participant raises the idea of whether there is a relationship between G, ε₀, and μ₀, speculating that changes in these constants could keep the speed of light (C) constant.
  • Some participants express skepticism about the introduction of new forces (like gluons and gravitons) to explain phenomena that are not fully understood, suggesting a preference for exploring existing theories more deeply.
  • There is a challenge posed to participants to consider new approaches in physics while ensuring consistency with experimental results.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of views on the influence of the gravitational constant and its relationship with other constants. There is no consensus on the nature of these relationships or the implications of potential changes in these constants.

Contextual Notes

Some participants note the complexity of integrating concepts from general relativity (GR) and quantum mechanics (QM) with electromagnetism and gravity, highlighting unresolved issues in the field.

Werg22
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I'm asking myself, what influences the gravitational constant? Our universe must somehow have characteristics that have a certain mathematical relation which leads to this value... Have any papers been written on the matter?
 
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a lot of information on the gravitational constant can be found by doing a google search on "gravitational constant".

one link:

http://www.rssd.esa.int/SA-general/Projects/GAIA_files/LATEX2HTML/node143.html

discusses experiments measuring possible rate of changes in the change per year in the value of the Universal Gravitational constant.

the abs[(dG/dt/G)/G] has been shown to be less than 1^10^-15 per year!
from experiments discussed at this link.

love and peace,
and,
peace and love,
(kirk) kirk gregory czuhai
http://www.altelco.net/~lovekgc/kirksresume.htm
 
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thats very interesting. Are there any similar ideas about Epsilon naught and Mu naught? Is there a relationship between all three that shows how they are dependent on each other? Then again, if Epsilon naught and Mu naught can change then the speed of light can too. What if a change in G is exactly compensated with changes in Epsilon and Mu in a way that keeps C constant?
 
Jonny_trigonometry said:
What if a change in G is exactly compensated with changes in Epsilon and Mu in a way that keeps C constant?

I won't say its absolutely impossible. but how reasonable does that sound to you?
 
well, it does sound reasonable to me because I believe there is more to understand about how reality operates. I think that maybe what we've concluded with so far is severely lacking something that puts consistency between the two main fields of study: GR and QM. So I look for anything that may offer some kind of insight.
 
In this particular case, I guess it's not really GR and QM but rather electromagnetism and gravity... Thats another thing I have a problem with, I don't like how when we can't understand how something works, we make up a new force to explain it (strong and weak forces). I know that there is a problem with them not being there, but I hate the line of thought that action at a distance can't be true, so people invent gluons and gravitons... I just think there are too many loose ends (hanging from the blimp that is physics) that can get caught on trees and bring things to a hault... Too many holes in the boat that is physics and the bilge pumps can't compensate for taking in so much water.
 
Werg22 said:
I'm asking myself, what influences the gravitational constant? Our universe must somehow have characteristics that have a certain mathematical relation which leads to this value... Have any papers been written on the matter?
Have you had a look at the various String Theory/M-Theory summary/review papers? Ditto, the LQG ones? Other than rank speculation, I can't think of where else you'd find any :eek:
I don't like how when we can't understand how something works, we make up a new force to explain it (strong and weak forces). I know that there is a problem with them not being there, but I hate the line of thought that action at a distance can't be true, so people invent gluons and gravitons
Leaving aside certain inaccuracies (or maybe 'imprecisions' would be a better word) in this, I have a challenge for you ... if you don't like it, how about doing something about it? After all, physics is quite open when it comes to considering new approaches! (Just be sure to show how your ideas would be consistent with good experimental and observational results :smile: )
 

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