Section IV: Gravity (New Theory), from "Is Space the Only Substance in the Universe?"

 

IV.                   EXPLAINING THE GRAVITY OF THE SITUATION

Space Deletion as the Cause of Gravity

If new space can appear and account for the Hubble expansion of the universe, the question arises as to whether there are processes in nature that can involve space deletion. The “Nothing but Space” model proposes that gravity does just that, deleting space around any object with the property of mass, and offering an actual explanation for gravitation that is revolutionary but also simple. It may be the explanation for gravitation that best satisfies the criteria for simplicity and elegance (Tsilikis 1959).  (Note that in this article, the terms gravity and gravitation are used synonymously.)

            According to Swedish physicist Tedenstig (1990) in a self-published book, “It turns out that the gravitation is actuated by an inflow process of matter from the environmental space.“ He did not, however, specify that this is an inflow of space.

            According to this model, the “potentially observable universe” expands overall, especially intergalactically, due to the addition of space.  Around mass, however, there is continual deletion of space, and this accounts for gravity and may define it. The waves and processes that carry many of the properties of mass may act as vortices that flush units of space back to their source in the invisible dimensions.  This would provide an actual explanation for gravity, in contrast to Newton’s gravitational law and Einstein’s general relativity, which merely provide mathematical (including geometrical) relationships.

            Conjecturally, space expansion since the beginning of our expanding “potentially observable universe” might have caused turbulence in space and the creation of vortices with the properties of mass. This is not an entirely new idea. Descartes suggested that vortices in aether actually produced matter (Pilkington 2004).  Michelson also hypothesized aether vortices (Goodman, 1994).

            Two mass objects (meaning areas of space with mass-like properties), or one mass and nearby electromagnetic waves, become closer together, creating the impression of attraction, when the space between them decreases. Since the space deletion would occur in and around all mass, it would also be active within the earth, pulling down everything already on or under the ground. Except in a black hole or if approaching the speed of light, any decrease in the size of objects should be negligible, because orbits determined by energy levels would push objects back to their usual distances, and deleted space would be continually replaced by space pulled in from the immediate surroundings.

            There may be no necessary or inherent reason why the deletions of space must be limited to mass objects. Other causes of space deletion, such as vortices generated by the turbulence of space expansion that are not concentrated into stars or planets and are therefore not visible, could be proposed and thus explain so-called "dark matter," thought to be over five times the amount of ordinary matter (Betz 2020; Ghosh 2017).  “Dark matter” might better be termed “dark gravity,” because theoretically, it might not necessarily exhibit inertia, or be associated with mass as we know it.  Although no specific explanation of “dark matter” is proposed by the “Nothing but Space” model, all potential explanations are likely to be compatible with it

            Frequent use of the term “field” will be found in the discussion below on gravity, and later in the briefer consideration of electromagnetism. In standard physics, a field is a region of space which has a value for some physical quantity or effect assigned to each point of space (or spacetime) of the region (StudySmarter, 2023; Wolchover 2020, November).  But in this model, a field can be considered as a region of space that is continually conducting some type of wave, addition or deletion, or other process. The values at every location are determined by the type of wave, addition/deletion, or other process along with the geometry of space. There are no points of space smaller than a volon.

            According to this model, the reason why mass objects and even light follow curved paths in a gravitational field is not that mass causes local curvature of space (or spacetime) as per general relativity, but rather that space is being deleted in between a large mass producing the gravitational field and a second mass or light that is moving in the field. This would cause the otherwise straight path of an object or wave moving past a gravitational field to become a curved path pulled toward the large mass (gravitational lensing). If the object’s velocity were less, it could be pulled into orbit, and if still less it could fall into the large mass. Space deletion would provide the same pull as the centripetal force associated with Newtonian gravity.

Deriving Newton’s Equation for Gravity from Space Deletion

The mathematics of gravity as a space deletion process would thus basically be the same as determined by Newton and Kepler.  Exceptions that correspond to special and general relativity are also explained by the model.

            Newton’s equation for gravitational acceleration g (small g), shown in equation (2), derives from two of his equations for force F, mechanical force (F = m*a, or in this case mg, a moving mass multiplied by its acceleration), and gravitational force (F= Gm₁*m₂/r²). In the latter equation, still generally applicable to gravitation between two mass objects in commonly experienced situations (Siegel 2019, October), mass m₁ attracts (typically smaller) mass m₂, and they are multiplied by a constant G (big G) and divided by the square of the radius (distance between their centers of gravity). Combining these two equations, F = m*g = Gm₁*m₂/r².  One mass cancels out entirely, and we are left only considering acceleration toward a single mass. Although Newton did not realize it, the dependence on only one mass allows gravitation to also apply to light passing by, which of course has no mass of its own. In equation (2), everything in the gravitational field of one mass falls at the same rate, as demonstrated by Galileo (Zimmerman Jones 2019):

                                                            g = Gm /r²                                                                                         (2)

            Space deletion suggests a mechanism for equation (2), and specifically for why gravitational force and acceleration are divided by r². Assuming that the basic process of gravitation is deletion of space, it is as if a space vacuum cleaner were located at each center of gravity and drawing in space from the surroundings.

            A gravitational field is produced by the gravitation of every individual unit of space with the properties of mass, but can be considered to act at the center of gravity. This permits determination of a radius by measuring the distance from this center. The field would be  disseminated throughout the medium of space and diluted (as explained below) by distance squared, due to an active and continual process of space deletion.

Consider the gravitational field of a mass object at theoretical “rest” to consist of concentric spherical shells of space, one of which is simulated in Figure 2 below. Figure 2 shows that each concentric spherical shell of surface area occupies three dimensions, with thickness dr due to being constructed from minimal but finite units of space. The geometric equation for the surface of a sphere (and thus of every shell of space around a mass object) is 4πr².  The number of units of space deleted from the shell at every distance is the same. The effect of that space deletion on the force and gravitational acceleration, however, is acting on the surface area of the spherical shell at each distance, 4πr². The distance is the radius, and the effect of the space deletion is diluted (divided) by the surface area, meaning that it divided by 4πr² which includes  the square of the radius, just as in Newton’s equation (2). The 4π in the surface area of a sphere is simply absorbed as a component of G, the gravitational constant in Newton’s equation (2).  

The surfaces areas are successively larger in the concentric shells away from the attracting mass object, so gravitational force and acceleration decrease with the square of the radius.  Conversely, the surface areas are successively smaller  in the concentric shells as the mass object is approached, so gravitational force and acceleration increase.

Figure 2: A cutaway of a sphere, hollow to show one shell of surface area

The Volume of Space Deleted

             Although the rate of acceleration depends on the effect of space deletion on the surface areas of each spherical shell, the amount of space actually deleted is also a fraction of the volume of the sphere, i.e., the gravitational field within the globe defined by each radius. Each spherical surface shell has a very small but non-zero thickness of dr, as represented in Figure 2, and all can be added together to produce volume.  The volume of the globe is the integral of the concentric spherical surfaces at every radius up to that point:

                                                            ∫ 4πr² dr = 4/3πr³                                                                           (3)

            Equation (3) is well known, and is included as a reminder that dr is not zero. In fact, if it were zero, this equation, and all other integrals for surfaces and volumes, would be summating zeros. They would not add up to anything, and the integrals would have no physical meaning. This supports the present model, which requires that units of space must have at least a minimal size.

             Equation (4) shows that the volume of space ∆V  (using big V) that must be evacuated from the globular gravitational field for an object to fall from radius r₁ to a lower one r₂ in a gravitational field is the difference between the volume of the sphere defined by r₁ and the smaller sphere defined by r₂:       

                                                            ∆ V = 4/3π (r₁³-r₂³)                                                      (4)

            Objects or light within that volume ∆V should be pulled in as space is deleted, and space from the more distal gravitational field should meanwhile be drawn in to replace the deleted space. This should be somewhat analogous to the action of a vacuum cleaner drawing in dirt along with air, and never running out of more air to draw in.

Inertia

Newton made inertia his first law of motion. Einstein made the universal association between gravitational and inertial mass his Principle of Equivalence, an underlying assumption in general relativity, also referred to by Einstein as the law of the equality of inertial and gravitational mass (Williams, 1068). Neither actually explained why inertia should be a property of mass, or that is should be in lock-step with gravitation. Because of its characterization of all matter and energy as waves or other processes in space, the “Nothing but Space” model may be able to do a better job. If the motion of a mass object through space were to have the properties of a complex wave combination gravitationally deleting space as it moved, then energy (in the form of another wave) should be required to change that motion. The resulting acceleration or deceleration would consist of one wave form modifying another, and the modification should be proportional to the extent of the wave form to be modified (the quantity of the mass in motion). Thus inertia would be a function of mass and of the gravitational property of mass.