Seeing as were all clever as humans, what is gravity and why have we not mastered it?

Answer 1

gravity is one of (and the weakest of) four fundamental known forces which drive our entire universe. these are, in order of weakest to strongest, gravity, electromagnetic, strong nuclear, and weak nuclear.

Because at present the question of how gravity exists is a "fundamental why" we as scientists do not understand the answer to that question. Even einstein could only theorize that the universe is like a rubber sheet with bowling balls placed in it to form "dimples" which represent gravity. place a marble on the sheet and it rolls down the sheet to the dimple. there are other theories aside from einstein's mass bends space concept, but none of them are proven. until we understand more we cannot "master" gravity.

Answer 2

We may be clever, but we're only as clever as humans, in other words, not that clever at all. Gravity is a difficult force to do much with, because you need a lot of mass to get a small effect. We are living on Earth, which is quite a large mass, and is always there. It's hard to do experiments in the circumstances.
If you want an anti-gravitational device one way would be to use antimatter to have a repelling effect or exotic matter to shield against gravity. Problems are getting hold of the stuff, containing it, steering, switching it on and off.
It may in fact be completely impossible to avoid gravity, control it or direct it

Answer 3

Simple question, complex answer. Prometheus9594 gave a good overview. Going a bit deeper...

1. We only discovered the relationship between gravity, mass and velocity in the last 80 years. Likewise, we have only just begun to understand how gravity works, even on the macro scale. Being a weak force, it is difficult to study gravity at the nano- (particle) level, which is where we need to be in order to learn to master it.

2. Working with relatively small objects -- your car or an airplane, for instance -- we can incrementally increase its gravity either by adding mass, or increasing velocity. Although increasing velocity sufficiently to cause a significant increase in mass requires so much energy that it's not practical... and why would you want to anyway?
Creating an artificial positive gravity field WOULD be useful on spacecraft and space stations, howerver.

3. I suspect that ANTI-gravity is the real issue here. It would be extremely valuable to be able to reduce or negate the effects of gravity under many circumstances: vehicles, materials handling, etc. There are 3 possible approaches to this:
a) Find some way to decrease the mass of the object
b) Find some way to shield the object from the effect of gravity
c) Find a way to polarize gravity so that the object can have either positive, neutral or negative gravity

The only way to decrease mass (I think; I'm a little hazy on this) is to reduce the object's absolute velocity / energy. If there were a way to do this externally -- supercooling doesn't seem to work -- it would fundementally alter the atomic structure of the object. Not good. You would, it seems to me, have to find a way to do more than reduce absolute velocity / energy to zero, you'd have to change it to NEGATIVE velocity / energy. I suppose anything is within the realm of possibility, but this is way beyond the realm of probablity at this point. We don't know of anything like negative energy; and by definition, maybe we never will. If we COULD transform the atomic structure of an object so that it has negative velocity / energy, there would likely be other consequences. Backwards time travel, for instance. The object would most certainly disappear from the observable universe.

A gravity shield might be possible but no one seems to have any idea what would cause one to exist. It would have to be some material and/or energy field that would polarize gravity and partially cancel it by phase distortion the way polarized sunglasses reduce light or intersecting radio wave cancel each other out.

Quantum mechanics and string theory give us some hints about a possibility. The most recent understanding is that the gravitic properties of matter are caused by the vibration of strings which pass through our dimension but are 'anchored' outside it. This vibration may cause the existence of so-called 'gravitons' - particles of gravity as photons are particles of light, though it is more correct to call them 'wavicles' since each has (or is thought to have) the properties of both a particle and a wave.

Anyway, this offers us two options:
i. The possibility of controlling gravitons as we control light. This could lead to a graviton laser, in essence, a 'tractor beam'. A polarized g-laser or beam could create an area of neutral gravity, but probably not negative gravity. A 'pressor' beam (the opposite of a tractor, which 'pulls' things closer together) might be generated if you could use only the trough of the gravity wave.
ii. If we could get to the point where we could actually manipulate the strings that cause gravity (first, we have to prove their existence; right now they're simply a mathematical construct), we could perhaps find a way to dampen their vibration within an object, effectively lowering its mass [see 3. a) above]. Or, we might find a way to cause it to vibrate in such a manner that it produces only anti-gravitons and negative gravity. This would have the effect of expanding space between your car and the Earth as a function of the intrinsic mass of the vehicle.

I expect that, within the next century or so, we may actually be able to do some of these things in the lab. Whether doing so in the real world is sufficiently energy or cost efficient is another matter entirely.

Answer 4

I don't know about you, but most humans I meet aren't clever at all. They think they are, but that still doesn't cut it. Gravity like all 4 of the big forces we know of are the true "magic" around us. It might actually be just effects of the same force so some people still hope for a grand unified theory GUT, but so far I don't think anyone really is capable of answering that first question. The second is simple - we need more time because we're not that clever and we've not been around that long.

Answer 5

The answer is out there. It is part of the physics trilogy, which is: E = mc2, m = E/c2, and c2 = E/m. The last is that for a gravitational field. The force of gravity is a product of mass and energy, and as one increases or decreases so, also, does the field. The energy in question is that of heat energy within a mass.

There is a writing at, http://360.yahoo.com/noddarc that describes why this works. It is only 3 - 4 pages and easy to read, "The Problem and Repair of Relativity." At the end of this paper there an experiment described that can prove the validity of this reasoning.

Answer 6

I'm truly glad that you know that we are all clever as humans.

Gravity is that thing that makes an apple fall to the ground.

Most of us haven't mastered gravity because we are unable to get in a vehicle that exceeds the escape velocity of the earth, although some astronauts have managed this.

Joking aside; I like the following link. It's quite informative.

Answer 7

Gravity is a force which tries to pull two objects toward each other. Anything which has mass also has a gravitational pull.
Theres no man made technology to master gravity yet that i know of.

Answer 8

I hope to heaven that we never do, why? because centrifugal force would spin us of the planet. Gravity, is caused by the earth acting like a giant magnet, whereas the opposite, centrifugal force, is caused by the earth spinning. Gravity just has the edge, so that we stay on the ground, and gives us a measurable weight. They do, of course, create artificial weightlessness in laboratories for research and space training purposes.

Answer 9

gravity is basic the moon is our natural sattilte and is responsible for the tides and what we know to be the gravitational pull of the moon, which helps pull everthing towards the centre of the earth hence gravity, also gravity has mastered us however we also have as humans of course mastered gravity but living life in a nasa shuttle stimulator woul;d be kinda isolated.

Answer 10

Gravity is a mystery.The Theory explains objects attracting each other.The small being drwan towards the big or an imaginary centre of gravitation.If you read the Theory of Expanding Universe,you will find that objects,planets,solar systems are moving away from centre,ie,against gravitation.What should I believe?If science any better than religion?
Big bang theory is not compatible with gravitation.