Heavenly Forces: Gravity, Light, and Dark Matter

Heavenly Forces: Gravity, Light, and Dark Matter

Intro

Throughout history, it's been difficult for humanity to explain the forces which dictate the interaction of astral bodies. Kepler attempted to explain the motions of the planets through a "Father" energy that emanates from the Sun. Despite his inaccuracies, he paved the path to the discovery of the forces that rule our universe. In this post, I'll briefly examine the forces that rule our universe and concentrate on the phenomena that we cannot explain through these forces. I'll try to uncover the influence that these forces in the heavens have on us.

The Forces that Influence the Heavens

Scientists currently identify four fundamental forces in the universe that explain almost all interactions we can detect: gravity, electromagnetism, strong nuclear force, and weak nuclear force. The common characteristic of these forces is that they all decrease with distance and they are dependent on another condition. For example, gravity depends on the mass of objects, electromagnetism depends on the properties of particles that create electric and magnetic fields, strong nuclear forces depend on quarks and gluons which are particles that hold together atoms and weak nuclear forces depend on other subatomic particles such as bosons and fermions which are elemental particles or particles that cannot be divided further like electrons.

Unexplained Influences

The four aforementioned forces do not explain all phenomena in the universe as it is commonly taught and believed. As each force is dependent upon certain particles and their properties, energies are subsequently dependent on one of the four forces and its particles. We call this understanding of the forces and their particles the standard model, but not all phenomena can be explained by this model. For example, dark energy and dark matter are not explained by any of the existing particles and their discovery is heavily reliant on gravity and its effects. More surprising than this is that gravity itself cannot be explained by the standard model. None of the particles included in it account for gravity's effects on other objects and cannot explain why gravity is the weakest of the four fundamental forces. This comes as a surprise when gravity along with electromagnetism are the ruling forces when it comes to phenomena in the heavens.

The Overlooked Force

The four fundamental forces decrease with distance, but the distances that they have an influence upon are rather misconstrued and hard to determine. It is believed that electromagnetism is the force that can have the most effect over the longest distance in the universe, while gravity does not share this characteristic due to its weak effects that can be overturned. For example, the gravity of a whole planet can be overcome by a fridge magnet on many small objects. Despite the former belief, we know that there are other forces or energies that affect our universe over longer distances equivalent to or even greater than those that electromagnetic forces can have. Intricately linked with gravity, these forces or energies are dark matter and dark energy.

What Overshadows the Study of Gravity?

The only reason we know about dark matter is that the gravitational pull on certain objects in the heavens cannot be explained by the amount of mass present in systems with our current understanding of gravity, thus more "matter" is needed to account for the movement or pull. The only reason we know about dark energy is that the universe is expanding at a faster rate than we expected, and thus is stretching itself at an accelerated rate. These two "dark" phenomena are over large distances and affect gravity in multiple ways that are unexplained so far. Gravitational waves and theoretical particles called gravitons have been introduced in an attempt to account for gravity's true effects in our heavens, yet it is clear that so far the force that has been used to explain distances and balances has been primarily electromagnetism. While it has proven quite useful, it distracts from modern exploration of gravity's mysteries.

Conclusion

Maybe Kepler was up to something after all when he described gravity and its effects for the first time: "The force that moves the planet is not bodily, but a certain incorporeal Godlike force residing in the sun, which, like a soul, operates upon the whole system and animates it, just as the soul does the human body." After reading some scripture and performing this short exploration of the forces of the universe and gaps in current scientific understandings, I am inclined to believe that what we thought we knew about the heavens is a mere illusion. As Psalm 104:1-2 explains, "You are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent." Yah covers the mysteries of his creation with light, the most important tool for astronomers in their discoveries, and yet is also the element that has kept us from explaining gravity for so long. Light acts like a veil that keeps us distracted and separated from intimate knowledge. While we try to peer into his garment, he stretches the heavens like a tent, which accounts for all the invisible phenomena in our universe.