Why hasn't gravity been solved for space flight

  • Context: Undergrad 
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the challenges of understanding and manipulating gravity in the context of space flight. Participants explore the potential role of particle accelerators in addressing these challenges, questioning the nature of gravity and its implications for space travel.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Conceptual clarification, Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses a fascination with physics and seeks to understand how gravity can be solved for space flight, specifically questioning the use of particle accelerators.
  • Another participant requests clarification on what specific gravity problem is being referred to, indicating a need for more precise definitions.
  • A participant argues that gravity is solely attractive and lacks the multiple types of "charges" found in other forces, suggesting that manipulating gravity is fundamentally limited.
  • There is a claim that using a particle accelerator would not help solve the problem of gravity in the context of space flight.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

The discussion does not reach a consensus, as participants express differing views on the nature of gravity and the potential for particle accelerators to address related challenges.

Contextual Notes

Participants have not clearly defined the specific gravity problem being discussed, and there is a lack of consensus on the feasibility of manipulating gravity through various means.

Nelli
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I am no smart person like the rest of you, but I find it fascinating about how physics works. I am deeply motivated to know about how we would solve this problem about gravity and space flight. Would a particle accelerator be used to help solve this problem or am I way off base?
 
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Nelli said:
I am no smart person like the rest of you, but I find it fascinating about how physics works. I am deeply motivated to know about how we would solve this problem about gravity and space flight. Would a particle accelerator be used to help solve this problem or am I way off base?

Welcome to Physics Forums! Your question isn't very clear. Could you describe the gravity problem you're referring to?
 
Nelli said:
Would a particle accelerator be used to help solve this problem
What way were you expecting that it could be used?
 
Nelli said:
I am deeply motivated to know about how we would solve this problem about gravity and space flight.

The problem is that gravity isn't repulsive, it's solely attractive. Without multiple types of "charges", like the EM force has, it is essentially impossible to manipulate gravity in any way except in the trivial manner of moving stuff around to increase or decrease gravity somewhere. But even that is severely limited by the extremely weak strength of gravity compared to the other fundamental forces.

Nelli said:
Would a particle accelerator be used to help solve this problem or am I way off base?

It would not.
 

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