Without God

2021 ◽  
pp. 9-29
Author(s):  
Eric Schliesser
Keyword(s):  
Necessary Condition ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Two Bodies ◽  
Individual Body

This chapter argues that when Newton drafted the first edition of the Principia in the mid-1680s, he thought that (at least a part of) the cause of gravity is the disposition inherent in any individual body, but that the force of gravity is the actualization of that disposition; a necessary condition for the actualization of the disposition is the actual obtaining of a relation between two bodies having the disposition. The cause of gravity is not essential to matter because God could have created matter without that disposition. Nevertheless, at least a part of the cause of gravity inheres in individual bodies and were there one body in the universe it would inhere in that body. The force of gravity is neither essential to matter nor inherent in matter, because it is the actualization of a shared disposition. We can distinguish among (i) accepting gravity as causally real, (ii) positing the cause(s) of the properties of gravity, (iii) making claims about the mechanism or medium by which gravity is transmitted.

scholarly journals STATIC INTERACTION OF ROUGH SURFACES UNDER NORMAL FORCE

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-115
Author(s):  
S. Khairaliyev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Contact Interaction ◽  
Frictional Contact ◽  
Normal Force ◽  
Random Functions ◽  
Static Interaction ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
Engineering Designs ◽  
Friction Surfaces ◽  
Two Bodies ◽  
Individual Body

Modern mechanical engineering designs (and some others) make more and more demands on the development of mathematical models of units in which friction is present. A condition that significantly complicates the study of the properties of a frictional contact is its discreteness with different geometric parameters of two contacting bodies, as a result of which the contact is formed only between a part of the roughness of the rubbing bodies (base and slide). The geometry of the contacting surfaces can most accurately be described by random functions, however, methods for calculating friction nodes based on random functions are very complicated. This work is the initial stage of building a model of contact interaction of two rough bodies with roughness parameters that are different for the two bodies, but constant for each individual body. In addition, the model of contact interaction is considered with a variable force compressing the contacting bodies, in the absence of an external shear force in the contact plane, and this work allows you to check the accuracy of constructing a model of interaction of friction surfaces with a relatively simple scheme of interaction of these surfaces.

Idealizations

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Laymon
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Practice ◽  
Philosophical Problem ◽  
Economic Agents ◽  
Scientific Explanations ◽  
The World ◽  
Kepler's Laws ◽  
Salutary Effect ◽  
Accuracy Of Prediction ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Two Bodies

Scientific analyses of particular phenomena are invariably simplified or idealized. The universe does not contain only two bodies as assumed in Newton’s derivation of Kepler’s laws, or only one body as assumed in Schwarzschild’s relativistic update; real economic agents do not act exclusively to maximize expected utilities, the surfaces of ordinary plate condensers are not infinitely extended planes, and the sine of an angle is not equal in measure to the angle itself. There are many reasons for the use of such misdescriptions. First and foremost is the need to achieve mathematical tractability. Science gets nowhere unless numbers, or numerical constraints, are produced that can form the basis of predictions and explanations. Idealizations may also be required because of the unavailability of certain data or because of the absence of necessary auxiliary theories. The philosophical problem is to make normative sense of this common but complex scientific practice. For example, how can theories be tested given that they connect to the world only through the intermediary of idealized descriptions? In what sense can there be scientific explanations if what is to be explained must be misdescribed before theory can be brought to bear? The fact that idealizations can often be improved, with corresponding salutary effect on the accuracy of prediction or usefulness of explanation, suggests that idealizations should be understood as part of some sort of convergent process.

scholarly journals How to Measure Gravitational Aberration?

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (S240) ◽  
pp. 670-677
Author(s):  
Michal Křížek ◽  
Alena Šolcová
Keyword(s):  
A Priori ◽  
Hubble Constant ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Speed Of Light ◽  
Henri Poincaré ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Expansion Of The Universe ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Equations With Delay ◽  
Two Bodies

AbstractIn 1905, Henri Poincaré predicted the existence of gravitational waves and assumed their speed equal to the speed of light. If additionally the gravitational aberration would have the same magnitude as the aberration of light, we would observe several paradoxical phenomena. For instance, the orbit of two bodies would be unstable, since two attractive forces arise that are not in line and hence form a couple. This will be modelled by a nonautonomous system of ordinary differential equations with delay. In fact, any positive value of the gravitational aberration increases the angular momentum of such a system and this may contribute to the expansion of the universe. We found a remarkable coincidence between the Hubble constant and the increasing distance of the Moon from the Earth.In 2000, Carlip showed that in general relativity gravitational aberration is almost cancelled out by velocity–dependent interactions. We show how the actual value of the gravitational aberration can be obtained by measurement of a single angle at a suitable time t* corresponding to the perihelion of an elliptic orbit. We also derive an a priori error estimate that expresses how accurately t* has to be determined to obtain the gravitational aberration to a prescribed tolerance.

Causality and Filling the Ignorance Gap

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara E. Gorman ◽  
Jack M. Gorman
Keyword(s):  
Particle Physics ◽  
Hadron Collider ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
The Public ◽  
Intravenous Drugs ◽  
The World ◽  
Full Capacity ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Two Bodies

There is an old adage: “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.” In the science denial arena, however, this adage seems to have been recrafted to something like: “What you don’t know is an invitation to make up fake science.” Before it was dis¬covered that tuberculosis is caused by a rather large bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis it was widely believed to be the result of poor moral character. Similarly, AIDS was attributed to “deviant” lifestyles, like being gay or using intravenous drugs. When we don’t know what causes something, we are pummeled by “experts” telling us what to believe. Vaccines cause autism. ECT causes brain damage. GMOs cause cancer. Interestingly, the leap by the public to latch onto extreme theories does not extend to all branches of science. Physicists are not certain how the force of gravity is actually conveyed between two bodies. The theoretical solutions offered to address this question involve mind-boggling mathematics and seemingly weird ideas like 12 dimensional strings buzzing around the universe. But we don’t see denialist theories about gravity all over the Internet. Maybe this is simply because the answer to the question does not seem to affect our daily lives one way or the other. But it is also the case that even though particle physics is no more or less complex than molecular genetics, we all believe the former is above our heads but the latter is within our purview. Nonphysicists rarely venture an opinion on whether or not dark matter exists, but lots of nonbiologists will tell you exactly what the immune system can and cannot tolerate. Even when scientific matters become a little more frightening, when they occur in some branches of science, they register rather mild atten¬tion. Some people decided that the supercollider in Switzerland called the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) might be capable of producing black holes that would suck in all of Earth. Right before the LHC was scheduled to be tested at full capacity, there were a few lawsuits filed around the world trying to stop it on the grounds that it might induce the end of the world.

Third International Islamic Geographical Conference Kuala Lumpur

1988 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-304
Author(s):  
Abdul Kadir Haji Din
Keyword(s):  
Policy Research ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Modern Theory ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Kuala Lumpur ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Geographical Society ◽  
Societal Values ◽  
Muslim Countries ◽  
The Universe

Development and the MuslimsThe Department of Geography, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, hostedthe Third International Islamic Geographic Conference at Institute AminuddinBaki, Genting Highland, Malaysia Muharram 16-21, 1409/August28-September 2, 1988, to discuss the effects of development on Muslimcommunities. Sponsorship for the meeting was jointly provided by theInternational Islamic Geographical Society, the International Institute of IslamicThought, the Association of Muslim Social Scientists of the United Statesand Canada, the Malaysian Institute of Policy Research, and the UniversitiKebangsaan Malaysia.Altogether twenty-four papers were presented during eight sessions tosome seventy participants from nine countries, including thirteen attendeesfrom outside Malaysia. The first session on “Muslims and Development”included three presentations. Mansur Ahmad Saman led the discussion byexploring the generic meanings of “Islam” and “development” in his paper“Islam and Development: the Region Within.” Mansur argued that becauseIslam sanctions peaceful living, it is a necessary condition for development,although the state of peace itself may not be a sufficient condition of thesame end. In the second paper, “Muslims and Economic Development,’’ A.H.MSadeq observes that although Islam provides all the incentives for economicdevelopment, and despite the fact that Muslim countries as a whole are wellendowedwith natural resources, they have continued to lag behind in economicdevelopment. Sadeq was hopeful that the future is bright for Muslim countries,if only there were more efforts towards economic cooperation among them.S. Parvez Manuror concluded the session with a deliberation an “Ideologyof Development: An Islamic Critique.” In this lengthy discourse on the conceptof “development,” the author asserted that the “The modern theory ofdevebpment aims .at the realization of certain societal values within a politicalframework, At worst, perpetuates the view of man and the universe which ...

Line Based Collision Detection of Cylindrical Rigid Bodies

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
John S. Ketchel ◽  
Pierre M. Larochelle
Keyword(s):  
Collision Detection ◽  
Detection Algorithm ◽  
Rigid Bodies ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Parallel Kinematic ◽  
Necessary And Sufficient ◽  
Two Bodies

This paper presents a novel methodology for detecting collisions of cylindrically shaped rigid bodies moving in three dimensions. This algorithm uses line geometry and dual number algebra to exploit the geometry of cylindrical objects to facilitate the detection of collisions. First, the rigid bodies are modelled with infinite cylinders and a necessary condition for collision is evaluated. If the necessary condition is not satisfied then the two bodies do not collide. If the necessary condition is satisfied then a collision between the bodies may occur and we proceed to the next stage of the algorithm. In the second stage the bodies are modelled with finite cylinders and a definitive necessary and sufficient collision detection algorithm is employed. The result is a straight-forward and efficient means of detecting collisions of cylindrically shaped bodies moving in three dimensions. This methodology has applications in spatial mechanism design, robot motion planning, and workspace analyses of parallel kinematic machines such as Stewart-Gough platforms. A case study examining a spatial 4C mechanism for self collisions is included.

scholarly journals The Universe, a Personal View on Exploring the Boundaries, or: The Science of the Extremes

2017 ◽  
Vol 01 (01) ◽  
pp. 31-39
Author(s):  
Gerard ’t Hooft
Keyword(s):  
Equations Of Motion ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Extreme Conditions ◽  
Personal View ◽  
Fundamental Equations ◽  
Emergence Of Life ◽  
The Universe

What are the fundamental equations of motion when we consider objects that move faster, have tinier structures, higher mass densities, higher or lower temperatures than ever studied before? Here, we emphasize the importance of studying extreme conditions and situations in science so as to uncover the basic laws of nature. One of the important extremes is extreme complexity, a necessary condition for the emergence of life.

The Infancy of Solar-Type Stars and its Relevance for the Origin of Life

1997 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 267-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Montmerle
Keyword(s):  
Main Sequence ◽  
Solar Nebula ◽  
Circumstellar Disks ◽  
T Tauri Stars ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Sequence Evolution ◽  
T Tauri ◽  
Solar Type ◽  
Optical Domain ◽  
The Origin Of Life

AbstractFor life to develop, planets are a necessary condition. Likewise, for planets to form, stars must be surrounded by circumstellar disks, at least some time during their pre-main sequence evolution. Much progress has been made recently in the study of young solar-like stars. In the optical domain, these stars are known as «T Tauri stars». A significant number show IR excess, and other phenomena indirectly suggesting the presence of circumstellar disks. The current wisdom is that there is an evolutionary sequence from protostars to T Tauri stars. This sequence is characterized by the initial presence of disks, with lifetimes ~ 1-10 Myr after the intial collapse of a dense envelope having given birth to a star. While they are present, about 30% of the disks have masses larger than the minimum solar nebula. Their disappearance may correspond to the growth of dust grains, followed by planetesimal and planet formation, but this is not yet demonstrated.

Universal ESEM

1993 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 786-787
Author(s):  
G.D. Danilatos
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Scanning Electron Microscope ◽  
High Vacuum ◽  
Natural Extension ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Environmental Scanning ◽  
Detection Systems ◽  
Small Gain ◽  
Detection Medium ◽  
Scanning Electron

The environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) has evolved as the natural extension of the scanning electron microscope (SEM), both historically and technologically. ESEM allows the introduction of a gaseous environment in the specimen chamber, whereas SEM operates in vacuum. One of the detection systems in ESEM, namely, the gaseous detection device (GDD) is based on the presence of gas as a detection medium. This might be interpreted as a necessary condition for the ESEM to remain operational and, hence, one might have to change instruments for operation at low or high vacuum. Initially, we may maintain the presence of a conventional secondary electron (E-T) detector in a "stand-by" position to switch on when the vacuum becomes satisfactory for its operation. However, the "rough" or "low vacuum" range of pressure may still be considered as inaccessible by both the GDD and the E-T detector, because the former has presumably very small gain and the latter still breaks down.

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