Introduction

Caution

Please do not decide whether this book is beyond your understanding until you have finished reading the next six to ten pages. It will get easier as you get used to it.

This book was not designed for just the professionals. The language is mostly on the high school level and, with a web browser and a little patience, many junior-high school students should be able to understand the basic principles. Occasionally, throughout the book, you will find euphemisms (synonyms) in parentheses that might be of assistance to some younger readers.

Most of the technical terms and the new words that are introduced in this tome (scholarly book) are also contained in the glossary at the end of the book. You might want to make a copy of those pages to reduce the number of times you will find it necessary to turn to the back. The use of a tablet or smart phone might simplify the copying process.

Getting Started

The excitement of the many new discoveries to be revealed in Motion Unification does not really start until Chapter 2. However, most readers will have some difficulty navigating the details of some of these revelations without at least tolerable understanding of many of the definitions that are presented in this Introduction.

You will soon discover that there are many new terms defined for the first time in this book that cannot be looked up anywhere else (yet). You will also discover that the concepts presented in this book are not completely independent.

Many concepts carry over to (are assumed in) succeeding concepts. However, anyone who becomes bored with the definitions of the Introduction might be justified in taking a precipitous peek at Chapter 2 before returning to this Introduction whenever vocabulary bolstering seems prudent.

Any adult reader only wishing to learn how gravity works might be able to understand enough about chapters 1, 2, and 7 to catch the essence of it. If that goes well, then chapter 9 will fill in some of the details and provide some of the consequences.

Natural Behavior

Before Sir Isaac Newton "discovered" gravity (back in the late 17th century), the falling of objects had been considered well understood. Falling was the natural behavior of objects that were dropped or otherwise unsupported. Newton's fortuitous discovery of gravity illustrates a fundamental truth that is not fully appreciated even today.

Any "natural behavior" that is "well understood" should be considered with suspicion until "how it works" is also well understood.

Lest we be too judgmental of a supposed early lack of criticality, we might now ask ourselves, for example, "How does momentum work?" Is this just natural behavior that is well understood? Isn't anyone curious about how it works? Will future generations of physicists criticize our lack of criticality?

Some might say that physics has always been about how things work physically. Before we can talk about "how it works," we must first establish our intended meaning of these three words. In physics, we tend to use formulas to simplify our explanations of how various components of a system are related. When all of the formulas of a particular system are understood, we can say that we know how the system works because we can make accurate predictions.

However, there are levels of knowledge. We will condense this down to three levels. The first level requires observations to explain what the system does. The second level requires mathematical formulas to model the variables. The third level requires a theory that physically explains, as simply as possible, the principles of how the system works. Equations and formulas will be used only when system relations must be established before the system can be analyzed.

In the case at hand, we do have formulas for momentum that allow us to make accurate predictions. However, in this case there is nothing to explain. Momentum is just natural behavior that is well understood! Right ...? Let's exercise some critical thinking.

Example of "How It Works"

Level 1: It is possible for a child to observe an old but still functioning mechanical alarm clock for a few days to discover what it does.

Level 2: By studying the clock and experimenting with all of its knobs and dials (or reading the directions taped to the back if all else fails), it is possible for a young mathematician to model the relationships between the input and the output. Models can often be revised and restated in many ways until it is generally agreed that it has been expressed as simply as possible.

Level 3: However, if clock making technology were ever lost, it might require a theoretical physicist (or in this case an experienced mechanic or engineer) to take the clock apart. In a process called reverse engineering, it might be possible to gain a real understanding (theory ... not conjecture) of the internal operation of this particular clock that physically confirms or alters the mathematical models and discerns the simplest theory of how it is supposed to work.

There are at least four terms that, depending on the source of the term, imply a variety of credence. In this book, these terms will be understood as follows.

Conjecture – an opinion or guess in the form of an argument.

Premise – a conjecture, hypothesis, or assertion generally given to establish an exact statement of some argument to be studied with a goal of possibly deriving a valid proof of that argument.

Theory – an argument or inference that has passed every test and is generally accepted as true or valid. (An argument is "valid" if the premises support the conclusion. In other words, in a valid argument, premises, if shown to be true, would guarantee a true conclusion.)

Narrative – the theory with the highest Occam and "strongest heart" (to be defined soon) that has been fortified by an understanding of how it works. This will generally be the theory that is most acceptable as an understanding of how it works.

There will be many examples of these technical terms used throughout this book.

The Narrative Principle

While occasional fluctuations may be difficult to fathom, standard behavior occurs for a physical reason that can be expressed as a "narrative

Reasoning

Mathematics is a critical tool for analyzing data and synthesizing formulas that can be used for predicting future behavior. Many mathematical and scientific discoveries start with one or more premises and follow the patterns or implications logically, using previously established definitions, theorems, or physical laws to prove conclusions directly. This type of reasoning is called "deductive" reasoning.

"Inductive" reasoning, however,...