Gravity – Why the apple always falls to the ground.

In the series "Empirical evidence" we will pick up examples illustrating how we make use of processes without fully understanding them. To get started, I would like to begin with a fundamental phenomenon - one of the basic principles of our life on earth.

What do the laptop on your desk, me on my office chair and a cruise ship on the ocean have in common? We are all under the influence of gravity. A force so self-evident that I never worry (or doubt) about it. It holds us together on Earth and our universe as we know it. At least the part we know.

Theory of Gravitation

I'm sure we all know the story about Isaac Newton and the apple that fell on his head. At the end of the 17th century, this apple is said to have given the impetus to Newton's theory of gravity. Einstein's theory of relativity then further clarified but also complicated the considerations about gravity.

In order to continue writing, I must now quote foreign sources, in other words, parrot what others understand, because I am at the end of my Latin: Gravity does not directly influence a body. Rather, the mass of a body deforms space and time. Other bodies are attracted to these deformations, so that in the end the masses attract each other. The earth as a very large body (in comparison to a human being) thus leaves a large deformation behind - this results in the earth's gravitational pull. *

Sounds complicated? Yes, because even physicists do not fully understand the principles on which the whole thing is based.

What does this have to do with Merus?

The theory behind gravity is irrelevant to us in practice. As long as the cruise ship mentioned at the beginning stays on the water and doesn't float towards me in the pedestrian zone; as long as the laptop stays where it is, I'm satisfied.

We all rely on gravity and use it even though we don't understand it. What we understand is its effect in practice. Because we have observed it a thousand times in our lives. Every apple falls in the same way from the tree when its time is ripe. Namely straight down to the ground.

Theory and practice.

Just like the theory of gravity, the theory behind the Merus Ring sounds a bit weird. It has gaps and is constantly being researched in order to close these gaps. But the practice is simple: where the problems disappear after the installation of a Merus Ring, we can be sure of the effect. For the customer this is decisive and for us every time a further proof of our theory.

*Source: Deeg, Janosch; "Die 10 größten physikalischen Rätsel unserer Zeit" published in Spektrum der Wissenschaft, 30.10.2014. Last updated on: 15.07.2019 under Spektrum.de

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