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Originally Posted by Peter Wilson
My first request, Bjoern, is that you not rush to judgement. The mainstream has overlooked something; it would behoove you to slow down and take a look at what I'm suggesting has been overlooked.
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I've already told you several times now that in the mainstream, it has been clear for decades that on smaller scales, there is contraction, not expansion. So what has the mainstream overlooked?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Wilson
If you consider the simplest gravitational system—two bodies orbiting each other—the system does not change without the input or loss of energy.
If the system contracts, it must somehow lose energy; if the system expands, it must somehow gain energy.
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True for a circular orbiting system (for elliptical orbits, I think one could say that the system expands and contracts periodically). But consider an even simpler gravitational system: one body flying away from another. That system expands, and nevertheless its total energy stays the same. Hence you can't conclude that in general, expansion always implies gaining energy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Wilson
If you consider gravitational systems more complex that two bodies, one part of the system—generally—contracts (releases energy) while another part expands (gains energy).
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Again: I wouldn't say that this is "generally" the case. Citing some examples does not prove that this happens generally.
As long as you haven't established that this is a general phenomenon (and I already gave a counterexample showing that this is indeed not general), your whole idea stands on rather shaky grounds. Hence I'll not respond to your further comments lower down in the same vein.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Wilson
So to answer the first part: How does contraction release energy? It does so via electromagnetic radiation: that is, local GPE is radiated away. To answer the 2nd part: Why does expansion require energy? For the same reason going up stairs requires energy.
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And yet again, radiating away GPE in the form of electromagnetic radiation happens only in some cases. You have not established that this is a general phenomenon. For example, in the case of the famous double pulsars, energy is emitted in the for of gravitational waves - not electromagnetic radiation.
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Originally Posted by Peter Wilson
It does not matter which units are used.
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For a comparison, that obviously does not matter. But it would be far more intuitive expressed in that way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Wilson
If 10 mph is faster than 7 mph, it will still be faster in m/s, or whatever units you use. The answer does not depend upon the units: the universe is contracting faster than it is expanding.
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But both of your calculations, for the expansion as well as for the contraction rate, were based on some simplifying (in some cases rather crude) assumptions. Hence the results are only (crude) approximations - and hence you can't use these numbers for claiming that one rate is bigger than the other. Doing a more accurate calculation could show that the opposite is true!