Why Not Stick With Newton?

In science, we have observation, we have description, and we have explanation.

Scientists observe thing, they describe them, usually mathematically, and they try to explain the phenomenon. This is how science usually works.

Quite often, scientists skip the explanation, or keep it deliberately abstract. They do not attempt to explain the phenomenon at hand at a detailed level.

The genius of Newton was in part that he chose to focus his attention primarily at the description. He did not make any serious attempt at explaining the reason things behaved as described. His famous book on physics is called Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica for a reason. It is a mathematical description of observed phenomenons. It contains very little in the way of explanation.

Dissatisfied with this, many have attempted to come up with explanations for gravity. But with no demonstrable need to change anything in Newton's formula for gravity, such attempts have largely been ignored. The attitude is that Newton's formula is both elegant and accurate, and there is therefore no need to change it.

However, Newton's formula did possess one problem. It did not correctly describe Mercury's path around the Sun. This presented scientists with a need to find a solution. Newton's failure to describe Mercury's orbit was a serious problem. A failure to describe something is indicative of a fundamental flaw, which is much more serious than a lack of detailed explanations.

The first one to find a solution to Newton's problem was Albert Einstein. Nobody would have taken his work seriously if it wasn't for the fact that he produced a formula that perfectly reproduced all of Newton's correct predictions and at the same time resolved the Mercury problem.

But just like Newton, Einstein never actually explains gravity. He describes it. People have therefore continued to come up with explanations. These again have been largely ignored because an explanation is not an urgent matter.

However, recently another set of observations have come to the attention of science-interested people, and the data does not square up well with either Newton or Einstein.

Our planet is expanding and gravity appears to be increasing as a result of this. For that to be true, according to Newton, enormous amounts of dense matter must be accumulated inside our planet at an accelerating pace. Alternatively, something is not quite right with Newton's formula.

Being of the opinion that it is more likely that Newton got something a little wrong than that there should be a matter accumulating mechanism inside our planet, I came up with the capacitor model in which the expansion and increase in gravity is explained in addition to all of Newton's predictions.