Skip to main content
Search type Search syntax
Tags [tag]
Exact "words here"
Author user:1234
user:me (yours)
Score score:3 (3+)
score:0 (none)
Answers answers:3 (3+)
answers:0 (none)
isaccepted:yes
hasaccepted:no
inquestion:1234
Views views:250
Code code:"if (foo != bar)"
Sections title:apples
body:"apples oranges"
URL url:"*.example.com"
Saves in:saves
Status closed:yes
duplicate:no
migrated:no
wiki:no
Types is:question
is:answer
Exclude -[tag]
-apples
For more details on advanced search visit our help page
Results tagged with
Search options not deleted user 1241

Gravity is an attractive force that affects and is affected by all mass and - in general relativity - energy, pressure, and stress. Prefer newtonian-gravity or general-relativity if sensible.

6 votes
Accepted

Gravitational force between two masses

The question is confusing, but I think you might possibly mean the following: Are two objects resting on a horizontal table gravitationally attracted to each other? If that's your question, then the a …
Ted Bunn's user avatar
  • 20.1k
10 votes
Accepted

Does gravitation of a sphere equal gravitation of a point?

Actually, the same result is true in general relativity: any spherically symmetric mass distribution gravitates in exactly the same way as a point mass. Here's the more precise statement: any spheri …
Ted Bunn's user avatar
  • 20.1k
5 votes

Gravitation as the source of redshift of light beams

As Chris Kuklewicz points out, a photon passing a particle, or a larger clump of matter, is blueshifted as it falls in and equally redshifted as it comes out, so there's no overall "tired-light-like" …
Ted Bunn's user avatar
  • 20.1k
10 votes

Please clarify how entropy increases when matter gravitationally coalesces

The situation Baez describes is of a virialized ball of gas shrinking gravitationally. As he points out (and further emphasizes in his hint), this process doesn't conserve energy. Once you know where …
Ted Bunn's user avatar
  • 20.1k
5 votes
Accepted

Black holes in a head-on collision

Some energy is lost to gravitational radiation. Some probably ends up in the final black hole (i.e., $m_{\rm final}$ could be greater than the sum of the two initial masses). Figuring out the proporti …
Ted Bunn's user avatar
  • 20.1k
5 votes

General Relativity Paradox: Holding a string across a gravitational gradient

It certainly is possible for two observers to remain at rest near a black hole, as long as they are both outside the horizon. They can stretch a string from one to the other, and they can bounce light …
Ted Bunn's user avatar
  • 20.1k
20 votes
Accepted

Gravitational time dilation at the earth's center

The rule I mentioned in another question, that the time dilation factor is $1+\Delta\Phi/c^2$, applies here. The derivation (found in various textbooks) depends only on the assumptions that fields are …
Ted Bunn's user avatar
  • 20.1k
9 votes

Voyager local time dilation (caused by gravity)

There is in principle a "gravitational blueshift" for signals traveling from Voyager to us. The data rate we receive will be higher than the data rate transmitted by a factor $(1+\Delta\Phi/c^2)$, whe …
Ted Bunn's user avatar
  • 20.1k
11 votes

How does the curvature of spacetime induce gravitational attraction?

As one example, we use this description to heuristically "derive" Newtonian gravity. …
Ted Bunn's user avatar
  • 20.1k
13 votes
Accepted

Gravitational lensing or cloud refraction?

One point in addition to the other answers. Refraction is almost always chromatic (i.e., different wavelengths refract differently). Gravitational lensing is achromatic. Some studies of gravitational …
Ted Bunn's user avatar
  • 20.1k
32 votes
Accepted

Is dark matter repulsive to dark matter? Why?

Lubos Motl's answer is exactly right. Dark matter has "ordinary" gravitational properties: it attracts other matter, and it attracts itself (i.e., each dark matter particle attracts each other one, as …
Ted Bunn's user avatar
  • 20.1k
37 votes

How does gravity escape a black hole?

any mention of photons or gravitons), although in the case of the electric field of a charged black hole the question is perfectly well-posed even in quantum terms: we don't have a theory of quantum gravity
Ted Bunn's user avatar
  • 20.1k
11 votes
Accepted

What prevents the accumulation of charge in a black hole?

Coulomb repulsion it is. Specifically, if a black hole has a lot of charge, then particles with a high charge-to-mass ratio will be repelled. Anything that falls in will contribute "more mass than cha …
Ted Bunn's user avatar
  • 20.1k
77 votes

How fast does gravity propagate?

Gravitational influences do propagate at the speed of light, not instantaneously. The question of what would happen if the Sun instantly disappeared is actually a funny one in general relativity. The …
Ted Bunn's user avatar
  • 20.1k