Anti-Gravity and the nature of mass; in which stones may find each other attractive...

Anti Gravity.

Mass is attractive. Things that have mass attract one another. This is a mysterious principle that is more descriptive than it is understood. What concerns me is the onesidedness of this principle; if masses attract, why wouldn't they repel also? Or be made to do that? For magnetized objects, this is an easily observable phenomenon - 2 objects, 1 with a + orientation and another with a - orientation, will pull to one another. If the have the same orientation (both + or both -), they push away from each other. See? A complete, i.e. two-sided, principle.

But consider 2 stones suspended close together in midair. Let's presume that they are not magnetized (although for all we know, all objects may have some sort of magnetic or similar field unknown to us). As the stones are made to approach one another (maybe we're holding them each by a string), because all masses attract one another, each stone at some point must sense the presence of the other. The sensation is attraction, and the stones want to pull in to each other. Supposedly we don't see them do that in a measurable way, because the downward force of gravity from the earth is so overwhelming, or because the attractive force of one stone for another is so faint or underwhelming.

Oh, if we could just have them do what they want to do - bang into each other! And then find out how to make them do the opposite - fly away from each other!

-woodyrant 6/21/2005