Since the middle of the last century, scientists have been puzzling over what the gravitational curvature of space is, does it exist, and if it does exist, how can it be explained? After all, such a phenomenon refutes by its very existence all the paradigms familiar to society regarding the structure of our world and the universe as a whole. Let’s consider this question in more detail, from the point of view of physics.
Space curvature
As you know, science is built on assumptions and assumptions. And there are a great many such assumptions in each theory. Throughout the history of mankind, many things concerning the structure of the world remain inaccessible not only to typical inhabitants, but also to people with outstanding intellectual abilities.
As for the curvature of space and time, the question related to this topic was formulated in two fundamental theories of physics at once:
Of course, a huge number of assumptions have been put forward, and are still being put forward, with all the calculations necessary to substantiate, but none of these assumptions has yet been proven, due to the lack of the necessary technologies for conducting a study that could empirically prove the veracity of all calculations.
Watch the video about the curvature of space and time.
Attempts to study the gravitational curvature of space
At the moment, scientists from advanced developed countries are working to explain how this phenomenon can be possible. A tremendous amount of work has been done, however, the results are still far from being finalized, and this is not surprising, because the number of calculations that need to be made and the amount of data that needs to be collected and processed cannot but amaze the imagination. The leading countries in this industry are listed below:
- USA;
- Germany;
- Switzerland;
- France;
- Russia.
Similar results were obtained by analyzing the quantity and quality of publications of scientists from different countries on this topic in world-class scientific journals.
It is also worth noting the experiment, unprecedented in its scale, which was not without success carried out by physicists from the United States. This experiment was called Gravity Prob B and took almost 8 years of painstaking work. The essence of the experiment was to launch a satellite, which, thanks to the presence of special equipment, measured and calculated the influence of our planet on the space that surrounds it.
The most accurate devices were installed on the satellite, which are able to respond to the smallest deviation in the orientation angles of the satellite itself. The reference point was chosen one of the stars located at such a distance from the Earth, which would contribute to its immobility when observed for a long time. The first results were obtained only three years after the start of the experiment, but they were inaccurate, as they contained errors caused by the influence of extraneous factors.
The scientists then worked for five years to minimize the influence of these factors. And the results that were obtained fully confirmed Einstein’s theory. Indeed, the Earth, as it were, deforms the space next to it. The figures indicating the deformation are negligible compared to the scale of the planet, but even they speak volumes.
The reason for the curvature of space by large masses
Many people from all over the world are currently working on the cause of this phenomenon, various projects are constantly being created to test hypotheses regarding one single question: is gravity a curvature of space or is it not. States spend millions and even billions of dollars on such experiments, the aforementioned Gravity Plan B project cost US citizens just under $800 million.
Despite the vastness of the ongoing research, it is still impossible to get exact answers, each of the observations has a factor that affects the results obtained, and because of this it is impossible to say for sure whether space is curved under the influence of objects of huge mass.
It would be easiest to imagine such a change in the form of a small silk cloth, on top of which lies a tennis ball. A recess is formed around the ball, a small hole resulting from the pressure of the mass on the canvas. But such an explanation is not correct from the point of view of science, because scientists study objects that are located directly inside the space, occupy a certain place in it, while the tennis ball is not inside the canvas, but lies on top. This example does not serve to explain, only to illustrate the problem in question.
Perhaps, thanks to the incredibly rapid development of science and technology, in the coming decades, physicists will be able to answer one of the fundamental questions of Einstein’s theory. At present, active work on this is also being carried out in Russia, the largest universities are conducting research. It is quite possible that soon another mystery of the structure of the world will be revealed.