Earth's magnetic field 'boosts gravity'

New Scientist ^ | 09:20 22 September 02 | Michael Brooks

[VadeRetro]

Exclusive from New Scientist

Hidden extra dimensions are causing measurements of the strength of gravity at different locations on Earth to be affected by the planet's magnetic field, French researchers say.

This is a controversial claim because no one has ever provided experimental evidence to support either the existence of extra dimensions or any interaction between gravity and electromagnetism. But lab measurements of Newton's gravitational constant G suggest that both are real.

Newton's constant, which describes the strength of the gravitational pull that bodies exert on each other, is the most poorly determined of the constants of nature. The two most accurate measurements have experimental errors of 1 part in 10,000, yet their values differ by 10 times that amount. So physicists are left with no idea of its absolute value.

Now Jean-Paul Mbelek and Marc Lachieze-Ray of the French Atomic Energy Commission near Paris say they can resolve the contradiction by taking into account the location of the labs where the experiments were carried out.

The pair suggest that electromagnetism and gravity influence one another enough for gravity's pull to be noticeably affected by the Earth's magnetic field.

String theory

Their work is based on theories such as string theory that try to unify all the forces, including electromagnetism and gravity, by invoking the existence of several extra spatial dimensions.

In a paper submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravity and presented at a meeting of the European Astronomical Society in Porto, Portugal, the researchers calculated the values they would expect G to have at different locations around the world. They say it should be greater where the Earth's magnetic field is stronger, with the highest measurements at the north and south magnetic poles.

The rest of the article.

[VadeRetro]

That's the earth's density. The article I think refers to Cavendish-like experiments measuring the strength of attraction between calibrated masses. That should be invariant but perhaps isn't if existing measurements are any indication.

[anymouse]

"New Scientist" - not just a science magazine, but a handy hoax generator and new age propaganda machine all-in-one.

[Junior]

Wonder what ol' Ted would've made of this one.

[MCH]

If going to the North Pole doesn't work, try going to the equator.

Seems viable. Not necessarily due to less effect from the Earth's magnetic field, but maybe centrifugal force? Out at the equator, seems like you ought to weigh a little less just due to the fact that you're more likely to "get flung off" or "lift off" from the Earth as it spins than you are at the poles 8^)

Ever get on one of those manual spinny-merry-go-round-thingies at a playground? It's pretty easy to stay on if you sit in the middle (pole), but the closer you get to the edge (equator) the more likely you are to get flung off.

How's that for a totally non-scientific reason why you should weigh less at the equator than the poles?

Maybe I should submit a white paper to one of these fancy schmancy French scientific journals? Might even get a free international conference trip out of the deal.

[VadeRetro]

Threads now get pulled at the mention of Saint Teddy. His screeching partisans are the new "bandarlog," to use a term he stole from Kipling.

[VadeRetro]

You're quite right, but again, it's not your weight that in real question, but the slight measured force between calibrated weights in a lab at one place versus the other.

[VadeRetro]

Wonder what ol' Ted would've made of this one.

Second answer: More proof of "the electric universe."

[Zuben Elgenubi]

New Scientist might have passed this by Brian Greene at Harvard. He's the leading scholar on Calabi-Yau syndrome (dimensions folding upon one another and spontaneously releasing) and string theory.

[VadeRetro]

The Elegant Universe was a decent read, but that stuff's too much for me. Leaves my old brain reeling.

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[Physicist]

How's that for a totally non-scientific reason why you should weigh less at the equator than the poles?

It's a scientific reason, and it really holds true. Things do weigh more at the poles than they do at the equator.

[VadeRetro]

[general_re]

Gravity will always be higher in the presence of French scientists, given that the French suck more than any other nation I know...

[general_re]

Proves my point - France sucks more than China, as your map clearly illustrates...

[VadeRetro]

Whereas the Chinese would be lighter due to the influence of Chinese cooking versus French cooking . . .

[f.Christian]

Posted by f.Christian to medved
On News/Activism Sep 8 2:35 PM #107 of 176

To: Dimensio
As I see it, evolution is an ideological doctrine. If it were only a "scientific theory", it would have died a natural death 50 - 70 years ago; the evidence against it is too overwhelming and has been all along. The people defending it are doing so because they do not like the alternatives to an atheistic basis for science and do not like the logical implications of abandoning their atheistic paradigm and, in conducting themselves that way, they have achieved a degree of immunity to what most people call logic.

488 posted on 7/29/02 5:18 AM Pacific by medved

Main Entry: log·ic

Pronunciation: 'lä-jik
Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English logik, from Middle French logique, from Latin logica, from Greek logikE, from feminine of logikos of reason, from logos reason -- more at LEGEND

Date: 12th century

1 a

(1) : a science that deals with the principles and criteria of validity of inference and demonstration : the science of the formal principles of reasoning

(2) : a branch or variety of logic

(3) : a branch of semiotic; especially : SYNTACTICS

(4) : the formal principles of a branch of knowledge

b (1) : a particular mode of reasoning viewed as valid or faulty

(2) : RELEVANCE, PROPRIETY

c : interrelation or sequence of facts or events when seen as inevitable or predictable

d : the arrangement of circuit elements (as in a computer) needed for computation; also : the circuits themselves

2 : something that forces a decision apart from or in opposition to reason < the logic of war >

- lo·gi·cian /lO-'ji-sh&n/ noun

[js1138]

"New Scientist" - not just a science magazine, but a handy hoax generator and new age propaganda machine all-in-one.

You forgot union newsletter.

[RightWhale]

Those hidden extra dimensions are probably misunderstood parts of one dimension

They are additional to the ordinary 3 spatial dimensions and some can be as much as 0.0001 mm in size before they loop back around.

Watch these French scientists. They are working hard and are extremely capable. Sometimes it is N-rays, but their diligence may yet pay off.

[general_re]

Exactly. Chinese food breaks down more quickly due to its lack of French-style mass, as evidenced by the fact that one is hungry again about a half-hour after eating Chinese. Whereas, after sitting down to a nice French meal of horse meat and snails, one may not feel the urge to eat again for many days or weeks afterward...

[f.Christian]

butte (byt)
n. Chiefly Western U.S.
A hill that rises abruptly from the surrounding area and has sloping sides and a flat top.

---

[French, from Old French butt, mound behind targets. See butt3.]

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Pronunciation Key

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

---

Butte (byt)

A city of southwest Montana south-southwest of Helena. It has been a mining center since its settlement in the 1860s and enjoyed its greatest importance after the discovery of copper deposits in 1880. Population: 37,205.

---

Pronunciation Key

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

---

butte \Butte\, n. [F. See Butt a bound.] A detached low mountain, or high rising abruptly from the general level of the surrounding plain; -- applied to peculiar elevations in the Rocky Mountain region.

The creek . . . passes by two remarkable buttes of red conglomerate. --Ruxton.


Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

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butte, AK (CDP, FIPS 9710) Location: 61.54247 N, 149.05167 W Population (1990): 2039 (798 housing units) Area: 126.1 sq km (land), 10.2 sq km (water) Zip code(s): 99645 Butte, MT Zip code(s): 59750 Butte, ND (city, FIPS 11180) Location: 47.83741 N, 100.66592 W Population (1990): 129 (90 housing units) Area: 0.7 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water) Zip code(s): 58723 Butte, NE (village, FIPS 7485) Location: 42.91263 N, 98.84795 W Population (1990): 452 (221 housing units) Area: 1.1 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water) Zip code(s): 68722


Source: U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau