Dipole Gravity

Newton assumes in his work that gravity is a monopole acting with equal force in all directions, regardless of intervening matter. These assumptions are central to his shell theorem which puts the center of gravity at the center of astronomic bodies regardless of the position of an observer.

However, this assumption is not well tested. While we observe gravity to be an attracting force wherever we look, it's not a given that this force is without a directional component. For instance, gravity may act most strongly perpendicular to the surface of bodies.

If gravity has a directional component, as the case would be for dipole gravity, the center of gravity for large spherical bodies will be dependent on the position of observers.

Center of gravity relative to position

In the above example, observer A sees the center of gravity located at a. Observer B sees the center of gravity at b. Being farther away from the surface, he sees the center of gravity located closer to the geometrical center. Observer C sees the gravitational center at c, which is even closer to the geometrical center.

Gravity drops off more quickly at low altitudes than Newton predicted in his work. We get Newtonian results for our satellites and Moon, and we get Newtonian results at the surface. But we get a quicker drop off in gravity in between.

Any astronomic body with a dipole component to its gravity would exhibit this non-Newtonian gravity near its surface. Orbits low enough to be affected by it will be faster than Newton predicted.

This opens for an alternative explanation for the Mercury anomaly. It may not be due to curved time-space as Einstein suggested, or smaller clocks as I've suggested. It may instead be due to dipole gravity. Mercury makes its rounds around the Sun faster than predicted by Newton because it's close enough to the Sun to be affected by its dipole gravity.

Earth, on the other hand, may have this anomaly limited to altitudes within its atmosphere, and the turbulence of our atmosphere has made this escape detection. However, a simple test can verify or dismiss this hypothesis. What's required is a balloon or airplane capable of smooth flight, a precise altitude meter and a precise gravity meter. It's so simple to perform that it must have been done many times already. Yet, results are strangely hard to find.

As for the source of this hypothetical dipole gravity, there's plenty of room for speculations. If matter has a shielding effect on gravity, we have dipole gravity simply due to shielding. People like Peter Woodhead and Wal Thornhill have speculated that gravity is a dipole by nature.

I have suggested that charged matter has stronger gravity than neutral matter. If so, we can expect a dipole component due to capacitance because capacitance is a dipole phenomenon.

Uncharged and charged capacitor

When a capacitor is charged, as illustrated above, the dielectric comes under stress and we get a directional component. This will result in gravity being stronger straight up than to the sides.

When we apply this to astronomic bodies, which are charged spherical capacitors, they too will have this directional component. We get gravity acting with a dipole component perpendicular to the surface of these bodies. The result is dipole gravity due to electric charge.