If being at the bottom of a gravity well...

[ZombyWoof]

If being at the bottom of a gravity well causes time to pass more slowly (in accordance with general relativity), what happens at the bottom of an antigravity well?

And yes, there are antigravitons, which could imply that there is antigravity. Of course how it interacts with matter is largely unknown afaik.

You can tell I'm sleep deprived because I'm thinking about this in such detail but... I suspect that time would dilate further in an antigravity well. Another option is that it might go backwards but I suspect the former to be more likely. Alternatively it could just be that antigravity would interact with matter the same as it does with antimatter.

Yes. I'm tired.

[Fredaintdead]

It's an interesting thought. The logical conclusion (assuming that antigravity is the complete opposite of gravity and therefore an antigravity well is the complete opposite of a gravity well) is that time would move faster at the bottom of an antigravity well. However, this brings up the problem of reaching the bottom of an antigravity well, as it would be constantly pushing you back up towards the top.

However, I am most likely completely wrong as I barely understand what a gravity well is, and am making a rather large assumption about the nature of an antigravity well.

[Imperial Psycho]

As far as I know, gravitons themselves are still only hypothetical themselves, so it seems a little odd to state categorically that anti-gravitons exist.

How does anti-matter act at the bottom of a gravity well? I expect the same would happen to matter at the bottom of an anti-gravity well.

[Astrella]

Anti-matter and matter behave the same way in a gravitation field actually.

[Teddy]

If anti-gravitons exist, wouldn't it be a misnomer to call it an anti-gravity well. I mean, a well is something you fall into and have a hard time climbing out of. Wouldn't mountain be a more befitting name?

[Reluctance]

Assuming something to catch you in the same way the ground prevents falling, I'd expect antigravity to have a time dilation effect equivalent to what you'd experience the same distance from the same normal gravitational mass. IIRC gravity wells have the effect they do due to a force being exerted, and everything I've seen about accelerated frames of reference implies time dilation.

"Antigravitons" are a concept I've never heard of, keeping in mind that even the existence of gravitons is just one of many competing models. Antimatter isn't some funky state of being, it's boring old matter that happens to react violently when it interacts with our normal boring old matter. Until and unless they contact, antimatter acts in almost all ways like the normal stuff. Antigravitons would be an odd concept at best.

If you want antigravity, you'd probably be best off looking into negative energy/mass. I really haven't the foggiest idea about these things, so you're probably best off looking around the internet for info. And remembering that these ideas are speculative at best.

[Asta Kask]

Dark energy would probably be the way to go, yeah. And we haven't the foggiest what that is.

[Mercenary Pen]

If anti-gravitons exist, wouldn't it be a misnomer to call it an anti-gravity well. I mean, a well is something you fall into and have a hard time climbing out of. Wouldn't mountain be a more befitting name?

How about peak instead of mountain... shorter and easier to trip off the tongue.

[Imperial Psycho]

I'd only be a peak if it actually repelled matter. Anti-gravitons could well attract matter like gravitons do. Gravitons could also be their own anti-particle instead.

[Adumbration]

Anti-gravity is not what you think it is. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigravity)

Haven't found any reference to anti-gravitons from any reliable source.

[shawnhcorey]

The real question is: does anti-matter have negative mass? If it does, then it will create a repulsive gravity force with normal matter. But it will also have an attractive force with other anti-matter. So far, no-one has tried to measure the gravity of anti-matter. It has to be kept as plasma in a magnetic bottle so it won't come into contact with any matter.

The closes thing to anti-gravity is the reverse Casimir effect. It can effect objects "at a distance". This means it could be used to lift a human. But, to a quantum physicist, at a distance means any bigger than the diameter of a hydrogen atom. Lifting a human may be possible but it may require too much energy to be practical.

[Reluctance]

The real question is: does anti-matter have negative mass? If it does, then it will create a repulsive gravity force with normal matter. But it will also have an attractive force with other anti-matter. So far, no-one has tried to measure the gravity of anti-matter. It has to be kept as plasma in a magnetic bottle so it won't come into contact with any matter.


Antimatter isn't some funky state of being, it's boring old matter that happens to react violently when it interacts with our normal boring old matter. Until and unless they contact, antimatter acts in almost all ways like the normal stuff.

Let me put it this way. If antimatter had negative mass, it would also require negative energy. (The whole E=MC2 thing.) Matter-antimatter reactions destroy an equal quantity of both, turning them into pure energy. If the antimatter part of the equation were negative energy, the energy from the matter would be perfectly negated by the negative energy from the antimatter. You'd end up with literally nothing, which is not what's observed with particle-antiparticle reactions.

[Dvandemon]

Anti-gravity should be the concept of "repelling" gravity. This is going off Discworld logic of X, Absence of X and Anti-X. I'm no expert (so this is entirely unbased, logical reasoning) but I guess it would have the same affect as gravity. Gravity causes time-dilation because the massive acceleration generated from the immense force. Therefore, at anti-gravity's peak, the push away from such point would cause the exact same effect due to immense acceleration.. completely and utterly ninja'ed *natch* :smalltongue:
How about peak instead of mountain... shorter and easier to trip off the tongue.

So, it's either anti-gravity peak or anti-gravity mountain.