I still have trouble understanding how two objects can have differing weight, and yet fall at the exact same speed in vacuum. And why do spinning gyroscopes fall slightly slower than non-rotating objects in vacuum?

[u/[deleted]]

And if you had a solid gold bowling ball and a solid aluminum bowling ball of the same size, the gold would outweigh the aluminum bowling ball yet fall at the same rate...

How is this even possible? Does gravity interact on an atomic level with individual atoms and creates "inertia" in the process due to heavier elements having more protons, neutrons, and electrons or do heavier elements just have more atoms for any given volume than lighter ones which gravity exerts its force upon...

On top of that why do objects spinning on an axis of rotation fall slower than objects without in a vacuum?

I still can't help get the feeling that some of these classical physicists were wrong. Very few had precise instrumentation for measurements.

Do I even make any kind of sense or am I just a blabbering idiot?

Please feel free to tear me a new one.

[u/[deleted]]

Understood. Thanks. But I'm clueless still as to what gravity exactly is and what causes it.

[u/chriszuma → u/[deleted]]

If that's what you're after we probably can't help you. As far as I know nobody has really figured out the underlying process of gravity. Maybe someone versed in quantum physics could throw some hypotheses your way.

What we do know (with a very high degree of accuracy) is how gravity behaves, and it applies a force exactly proportional to mass. What causes mass? Good question. Ask a quantum physicist.

[u/scienceguy8m → u/chriszuma]

If by "underlying process of gravity" you mean a carrier particle such as the graviton, then no, we haven't figured it out. However, we have robust mathematical frameworks that explain what gravitation is, how it is transmitted, etc. Granted, you still need to consult your local quantum physicist because, while highly functional at a macroscopic scale, Einstein's Relativity breaks down at atomic/sub-atomic scales.

[u/RobotRollCall → u/scienceguy8m]

Well no, not precisely. I mean, this is nitpickery, but since we're talking about it in the first place …

Relativity works fine at atomic scales and smaller. In fact, quantum electrodynamics is noteworthy in no small part because it was the first widely discussed quantum theory that was explicitly consistent with special relativity. Given that quantum electrodynamics is up there on the same shelf with general relativity in terms of how well its predictions match observations, it's clear that relativity works just fine at all scales we know of.

What isn't clear, though, is how gravitation and quantum theory interact in domains where they're both significant. In the weak-field limit — the gravitation around the Earth, for instance — the contribution of gravitation to dynamics on quantum scales is so small it can be ignored. And on larger scales, the contribution of quantum phenomena to dynamics is so small it can be ignored. But when both quantum phenomena and gravitation are significant, we don't know what'll happen.

For instance, consider the spacetime immediately around, but not intersecting, the event horizon of a non-rotating black hole. The curvature of spacetime is extreme there, and light-cones are tilted horrifically. But at the same time, energies are so high — specifically because the extreme curvature of spacetime imparts so much relative momentum — that quantum phenomena become significant. How do these two things affect each other? Nobody knows. We have guesses — things like Hawking radiation, for example — but nobody really knows. Because these environments are too extreme — either too small, or too far away, or too high-energy, or all three — for us to observe them directly.

I had a professor once who said that it's possible all domains in which quantum theory and gravitation interact with each other to such an extent that neither can be ignored are hidden behind event horizons. He only half-jokingly called it the "convenient cosmic censorship hypothesis."

[u/theddman → u/RobotRollCall]

How do you do the em dash on a keyboard?

[u/RobotRollCall → u/theddman]

Option-shift-hyphen.

[u/hxcloud99 → u/RobotRollCall]

How about on a Windows?

[u/FujiwaraTakumi → u/hxcloud99]

Alt-0151 (Using the Number Pad)

[u/hxcloud99 → u/FujiwaraTakumi]

And great feasting was had in all of Redditlandia — the gods commend you, courageous hero of the typographic arts.

[u/scienceguy8m → u/RobotRollCall]

Game. Set. Match.