Mechanical explanations of gravitation (or kinetic theories of gravitation) are attempts to explain the action of gravity by aid of basic mechanical processes, such as pressure forces caused by pushes, without the use of any action at a distance. These theories were developed from the 16th until the 19th century in connection with the aether. However, such models are no longer regarded as viable theories within the mainstream scientific community and the standard model to describe gravitation without the use of actions at a distance is now general relativity. Modern quantum gravity theories also attempt to describe gravity by more fundamental processes such as particle fields, but they are not based on classical mechanics.
Read more about Mechanical Explanations Of Gravitation: Screening, Vortex, Streams, Static Pressure, Waves, Pulsation, Other Historical Speculations, Recent Theorizing, Secondary Sources
Famous quotes containing the words mechanical, explanations and/or gravitation:
“There is only one evil, to deny life
As Rome denied Etruria
And mechanical America Montezuma still.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“In the nineteenth century ... explanations of who and what women were focused primarily on reproductive events—marriage, children, the empty nest, menopause. You could explain what was happening in a woman’s life, it was believed, if you knew where she was in this reproductive cycle.”
—Grace Baruch (20th century)
“I look for the new Teacher that shall follow so far those shining laws that he shall see them come full circle; shall see their rounding complete grace; shall see the world to be the mirror of the soul; shall see the identity of the law of gravitation with purity of the heart; and shall show that the Ought, that Duty, is one thing with Science, with Beauty, and with Joy.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)