the large hadron collidor particle accelerator

[ste4_20]

This doesn't apply to the sub atomic world though, that operates on a completely different set of principles

There is a huge amount of matter unaccounted for - dark matter - that suggests space isn't as empty as we think. Finding it is one of the main reasons behind this CERN experiment

[Shinny]

You stay on it due to the Earths mass.

[worm]

I wasn't claiming it was a definitive statement - merely my opinion!

[worm]

Regarding Scotty, it depends if the laws of physics are right though. Newton's laws were universally correct until Einstein came along. So was Euclidean geometry until Gauss and Einstein came along.

Edited September 3, 2008 by worm

[worm]

I should've said the Earths' mass and of course, your mass. If you had no mass, you would not have any attraction to anything. But then if you had no mass, you wouldn't exist. Well, you could in the form of energy, but then you would have no attraction to anything anyway ... Hmm. I guess thats on of the aims of the experiment. How does energy become matter??

[ste4_20]

'Natures conformity to law of which you physicians talk so proudly exists only owing to your interpretation and bad philology. Things do not behave regularly according to a rule: there are no things, they behave just as little under the constraints of a necessity and our entire science still lies under the misleading influence of language.' - Nietzsche

Couldn't help using that quote.

The constraints of a necessity being a reference to gravity or physical order of any kind.

[Shinny]

i only did GCSE science - this is going over my head now!!!

[dakyras]

Gravity Shmavity. Stuff is just heavier than air.

[llcoolphil]

Erm, firsly it doesn't. Secondly, how can it be reduced to mathematical formula?

[worm]

Tell me a single thing you can experience that isn't processed by the brain.

Edited September 3, 2008 by worm

[llcoolphil]

Gravity is still a theory.

Regardless, relativity can be proven* by my account of September the 11th as to yours. This is because we do not share the same space and time. We are relative to space and time.

* I don't like using that word. I use it very liberally.

[worm]

In part, owing to the concept that mathematics underpins everything. Aronofskys film 'Pi' being a good example. Although this is now number theory. Apologies.

Edited September 3, 2008 by worm

[worm]

The phenomena of me not floating away into space and objects being attracted to each other exists however.

[dakyras]

Im not even sure that gravity is a theory since we don't understand what causes it (sub atomic gravitons possibly) but I take your point. The phenomena of me not floating away into space and objects being attracted to each other exists however.

[worm]

And Einstein's Special Theory can not be reduced to different accounts of september 11th!

[llcoolphil]

That was the limit of my relativity knowledge, only studied it in a mathematical history context. It's something I'm definitely intent on reading up on when I don't have to focus on Number Theory quite so much. The relativity of space of time is whats being analysed quite heavily I think. Can we accurately measure somethings position and speed at once?

Regarding Scotty, it depends if the laws of physics are right though. Newton's laws were universally correct until Einstein came along. So was Euclidean geometry until Gauss and Einstein came along.

My understanding came from Deep Blue Sea.

Edited September 3, 2008 by llcoolphil

[llcoolphil]

Here's a theory I just cooked up now:

The magnetic field of the Earth creates air pressure and our atmosphere. We are heavier than air. Therefore we stay on the ground.

Sounds plausible enough.

[worm]

But nobody can say what gravity actually is, nobody knows.

Edited September 3, 2008 by worm

[ste4_20]

Numbers are a language too. The problem is that language is a map. We then fit this map over the reality to define it. The problem here is that the map is static and the reality is fluid. So, as reality falls away and changes, the map sits there looking all real. And we believe it, even in face of the reality not fitting.

No crudeness in that analogy!

[dakyras]

It does - until I ask you to use that to explain why objects outside of our atmosphere are attracted to each other!

Edited September 3, 2008 by dakyras

[worm]

That reminded me a fair bit of a scientific/mathematical version of the Hicksian (I like that term btw) rollercoaster. Mathematics is the language of nature, patterns emerge everywhere you look. A few of the big millenium problems in mathematics are based upon what you just said.

Edited September 3, 2008 by worm

[Spiderden]

"Anyone who thinks the LHC will destroy the world is a twat."

Prof Brian Cox

Source

[wullie 72]

The big bang night on bbc4 the other night pretty damn good

[Alcatraz]

Gonna be a strange day if it proves anything

[Angelis]

could end up being one of the greatest wastes of time and money since... (insert your own event here)