Posted by Henry Butz on December 10, 2003 at 19:36:54:
Probably the most elusive mystery of modern science may have been solved - the Unified Theory of Physics.
Which weighs more? A pound of bricks or a pound of feathers? The answer is: they both weight the same. Heard that one? Ok, here's another one: Why do they make airplanes out of aluminum instead of lead? Because aluminum weighs less. Why does aluminum weigh less than lead? Because the sub-atomic particles which make up aluminum, the protons, electrons, and neutrons are further apart e.g. it's a less dense of a metal.
Very small things, such as protons, electrons, and neutrons are being held apart. They are invisible to the naked eye. What about large things? If I drop an apple, it falls to the ground and makes contact with the earth. If a meteor is captured by the gravity of the Earth, it crashes into the ocean and kills the dinosaurs. But (big BUT) the molecules of aluminum do not collapse onto each other. They are held apart.
This is why we have two theories of physics. One for big things and one for very small things. Actually, if sub-atomic particles all collapsed onto each other, the whole universe would collapse into a big, black hole and vanish. Although it's a good thing we have this paradox, mathematicians would like to describe the universe using a single, "unified equation."
The explanation of what is happening at the sub-atomic level comes from looking at things very, very large, like a galaxy. To digress, remember the "Big Bang" theory? We theorize that everything the universe is rapidly expanding following a "Big Bang." At the end of the universe, everything will slow down and collapse back onto it self (due to gravity) and recycle into another Big Bang. The problem is, scientists have found that all the matter in the universe is accelerating apart. This suggests that there is a force of repulsion, in addition to the attraction of gravity.
Oh - and this also kinda puts the kibosh on the recycle part of the Big Bang. Things are not slowing down; things are still accelerating apart.
It's not that very small particles are not behaving as large objects. Rather, it's that our observation of the force of gravity which over shadows the force of repulsion. What keeps the galaxies from flying apart is that at the center of every galaxy is a massive black hole. Black holes are much more than the most destructive force in the universe - in fact, they appear necessary for the formation of galaxies.
Albert Einstein theorized, then dismissed the concept of anti-gravity. But, thanks to today's technology, we are able to search the stars for answers of what is happening on the sub-atomic level.