Equivalence Principle - Explanations of The Equivalence Principle

Explanations of The Equivalence Principle

Dutch physicist and string theorist Erik Verlinde has generated a self-contained, logical derivation of the equivalence principle based on the starting assumption of a holographic universe. Given this situation, gravity would not be a true fundamental force as is currently thought but instead an "emergent property" related to entropy. Verlinde's approach to explaining gravity apparently leads naturally to the correct observed strength of dark energy; previous failures to explain its incredibly small magnitude have been called "the greatest embarrassment in the history of theoretical physics". However, it should be noted that these ideas are far from settled and still very controversial.

Read more about this topic:  Equivalence Principle

Famous quotes containing the words explanations of, explanations and/or principle:

    In the nineteenth century ... explanations of who and what women were focused primarily on reproductive events—marriage, children, the empty nest, menopause. You could explain what was happening in a woman’s life, it was believed, if you knew where she was in this reproductive cycle.
    Grace Baruch (20th century)

    We operate exclusively with things that do not exist, with lines, surfaces, bodies, atoms, divisible time spans, divisible spaces—how could explanations be possible at all when we initially turn everything into images, into our images!
    Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

    Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir!
    Charles Dickens (1812–1870)