What does gravity come from?

Answer 1

It is unclear why gravity exists, but it is associated with matter and mass. The more massive an object, the greater the gravitational force it exerts. From the general theory or relativity, time is slowed by mass and the path of a particle in the vicinity of a mass is curved in an attempt to go in a straight line in curved space time. If this statment is correct then gravity was created in the big bang when quarks combined to form particles with mass. There is one worrying aspect to this simple picture, Light has no mass only energy, according to Einstien's E=MC2 mass and energy are related but then it is implied that gravity acts on energy. The energy of a particle is a function of its wavelength, its wavelength and spin being a function of time. I believe that ultimately gravity comes from the combined spin of all the particles that go to make up the mass in question. Unfortunately this is just metaphysics as it is not possible to test. Gravity is a characteristic of all mass, and it is not yet clear what the nature of gravity really is. It is possibe that it is related to the as yet undiscovered Higgs Boson. When we develop a "theory of everything", it will give us a picture of gravity that can be explained in Quantum terms, and this will be a huge step forward. The problem of gravity acting on light is actually addressed above. Light bending as a result of gravity can be seen not as a 'force' acting on massless photons, but as light passing through space that is itself warped. Light follows what is for it the straightest path through space.

Answer 2

Gravity is a property of matter. Matter has mass (weight) and occupies space. It also has the property of being able to attract other matter to it. The name associated with that characteristic of matter is gravity. And we don't know where it came from. It's just there. Some might say it came from the Big Bang, and when matter was created, gravity appeared at the same instant. It's possible, and even probable that this was the case, but still, gravity just appeared. We know that something like the earth attracts the moon, but no one is really able to say way. Yes, it's because of gravimetric attraction, but what is gravity other than the attraction of one body, one chunk of matter, for another? Can't say. There are those who would call gravity a "dent" in space time. Like a Bowling ball on a mattress. The mattress is basically flat, and the bowling ball puts a big "dent" in it and causes a curve around it. That's what most physicists think, probably. We know a whole lot of things about how gravity acts on stuff, but not much about its origin or what makes it do what it does. Funny, huh? There's a Nobel prize just waiting for the clever individual who can figure this one out and publish. Intrigued? Hit the link, learn all there is to know, stand on the shoulders of all those who have done previous work on the nature of gravity, and then look around from up there. See anything no one else has seen before? Yup, that's it. That's what gravity is. Write it up and send it in. Report to Stockholm and collect your Nobel prize. Go out and eat a nice dinner to celebrate. Then Google yourself just for fun.

Answer 3

Answer 1

Gravity is an inherent aspect of matter and its interaction with the space/time continuum. As a consequence it did not form - it simply "was" once mass, time and space existed.

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Answer 2

Just to add a tad, it's true that gravity wasn't "formed". It exists due to the attraction of mass. It IS the attraction of mass. Even gasses, having mass, have gravity. If this were in fact not true, Earth would have no air to breath. Our atmosphere would simply dissipate into the voids of space. I'm not even going to try to pick this apart down to the quantum physics level, but for a simple example of gravity in action, just drop a hammer on your foot. :P Just examine why the solar system consists of planets in orbit around the sun and within the solar system, the fact that moons orbit their parent planets, and even moons orbit other moons at the same time. As a simple example of mass vs. gravity, our moon is about 1/6th the mass of Earth. Thus it also has only 1/6th the force due to gravity and is why everything weighs 1/6th as much there, than on Earth. Our Sun, having millions of times more mass than Earth would make a pea weigh as much as the Titanic (give or take a few percent). ;) Final brain buster: Even light, which we're STILL trying to totally figure out is affected by gravity as it acts both like a wave, yet has mass. This is what (as best we can thus prove) a "black hole" is. A dead or dying star so massive, it can bend light rays and even prevent it from leaving the star creating what looks like a giant void. The fact a star is actually in the middle has to be inferred by watching the effect on other stellar bopdies. NASA relies heavily on gravity using momentum and gravitational force to be able to send spaceships to other planets, and to land on the moon... The classic "slingshot effect". The reason Earth doesn't simply fall into to the sun, or the moon doesn't land in anyone's backyard is because the same forcer due to gravity is balanced and for practical;l purposes is canceled out by the law of physics "Conservation of Momentum". The speed of an object's orbit also dictates howfar way it will orbit from whatever body its orbiting around. One can argue the Theological aspects all they want. That's the OP's right. But the flip side also says it is IMPOSSIBLE to break fundamental laws of physics most of which were proven a very long time ago. Though people have spent large amounts of effort trying too, thus far, Newton's laws have never been disproven. Some aspects we really don't know for the simple reason, looking into everyway atoms tick is close to impossible and again, relies in inference and indirect observation.

Answer 4

The sun does have gravity, but the gravity that keeps us on the ground comes from Earth.

Answer 5

The bending of space -- what ends up as gravity -- occurs anywhere mass (or, more accurately, energy) is present in that space.