"Guy Hoelzer"  wrote in message
news:c9nhg6$imo$1{at}darwin.ediacara.org...
> in article c9lduq$3019$1{at}darwin.ediacara.org, Tim Tyler at tim{at}tt1lock.org
> wrote on 6/2/04 1:39 PM:
[snip]
> I don't think that we understand gravity very well yet, but as I
understand
> the current conventional wisdom, the gravity exerted on the earth is not
> just the sum of the gravitational effects on the individual atoms.  It is,
> in fact, the gravitational nonlinearities that allow the earth to be the
> unified subject of gravitational pull.  If this were not the case, I think
> that objects, like the earth, would be pulled apart in gravitational
fields.

Conventional wisdom?  You will have to provide references for that.

My understanding:
Newton's gravitation - you just add the effects; it is linear.
Einstein' gravitation - slightly non-linear; add the effects and then some.
Quantum gravitation - who knows.

I am EXTREMELY dubious that nonlinearities in the gravitational equations
are required to keep the earth from being pulled apart.  If so, you would
think that smaller bodies ARE being pulled apart.
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