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Dear Final Frontier,
From
general relativity (as you have explained in your item on space
& time) we are led to believe that the force of gravity is attributed
to a curvature in space-time. There is also the proposal that the
gravitational force arises from an exchange particle known as the
graviton (I believe its existence is yet to be proven). Question:
If indeed the force of gravity arises due to a graviton exchange
between massive bodies does it negate the view that gravity arises
from curved space or do the two proposals somehow coexist? Thanks
Reply
Hi George,
That's a very tricky question! According to Prof. Ed Copeland at
Sussex University, the two proposals coexist. The graviton is the
Quantum Mechanical particle that transmits for the force we call
gravity (similarly the electromagnetic force is transmitted with
the photon, the weak force by what are called the gauge bosons).
The graviton will follow paths or trajectories called geodesics,
and these are determined by the matter content. These geodesics
give you information about the space-time curvature.
Paul Roche
Final Frontier
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