What causes gravity?

Question

Is gravity caused by the sheer mass of objects floating through space?

So are morbidly obese people more attractive?

Answer 1

Big Questions Wiki
What causes gravity?
Isaac Newton first figured out the fundamental nature of gravity in the late 1600s. By unraveling the mysteries of planetary movement and Earth’s pull on its inhabitants, he described modern physics. But more than three centuries later, that’s still all we have: an understanding of the effect, with almost no grasp of the cause. Is gravity carried by an elementary particle? Is it some fundamental feature of spacetime we don’t understand? Why can’t gravity be reconciled with the better-understood quantum forces? All these questions remain unanswered. Many scientists think gravity must be generated by a massless particle, and have even dubbed it the graviton. But experiments to detect this entity (using a super-collider, for example) can’t be performed with current technology. “To generate the energy required to investigate a gravity particle, we believe, would produce a black hole,” says Harvard physicist Lisa Randall. “Space itself just breaks down.” Right now, mathematics is the best investigative tool for getting gravity to square with subatomic forces like electromagnetism. But making the math work requires dealing with exotic string theory notions like invisible 10-dimensional space. “We’ve always understood that gravity was different,” Randall says. “If we figure out why in the next 30 years, there will be another big, new question. I guarantee it.”

John Hockenberry

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Answer 2

Despite what you might hear, the only correct answer is:

"We don't know!"

We do know how the mass of physical objects relates to the curvature of spacetime in first and second order and it is this curvature of space which we experience as gravity. This is called the "general theory of relativity" and we have knowledge about it in pretty much unchanged form since 1915. We have made great efforts and slight advances in linking the predictions of general relativity to experimental (astronomical and cosmological) data.

But unlike for electromagnetic fields and the weak and strong interactions of elementary particles, we simply do not have a detailed microscopic theory of how the microscopic property of "mass" of an object relates to its large scale physical effect on other objects. Therefor the not so naive question of "what causes gravity" goes pretty much unanswered. The latest theories physicists entertain these days are very far out mathematically and while there is an enormous amount of work and learning going on in the field, much of the mystery surrounding gravity remains.

Answer 3

No one understands gravity. It is known that the greater the mass or size, the greater the pull. Enough of the mechanics have been worked out and applied. We know how objects behave within gravity fields. Theoretical physics is having a lot of fun with your question!

Answer 4

Gravity is caused because of the curvature of space-time, according to Einstein's theory of relativity. Objects with mass bend space-time in such a way that they accelerate towards each other.

Answer 5

They aren't merely floating through space. An instance is our solar system it's all in balance and stays in motion. Think of those huge planets like Saturn and Jupiter and fast there orbits are to keep them from falling into the sun.

Newton I believe said the moon falls around the earth.

Answer 6

Yes, gravity is the effect of mass.

Answer 7

The amount of matter on earth causes gravity. The more the matter, the more the gravitational pull.

Answer 8

Walmart

Answer 9

Mass and energy cause gravity.

Answer 10

gravity comes from a ''spinning motion'' take a bucket of water ans swing it around and around...this causes gravity and the water will not come out of the bucket untill you stop spinning and the bucket is up side down (causd by gravity from the earth the water comes out of the bucket..)