$10,000 Gravity Challenge 2023
I challenge gravity deniers to provide an accurate predictive explanation for the measured downward accelerating force. I am offering $10,000 of my own money to anyone that can do it.
The prize is $10,000 paid via a Bitcoin transfer to the winner. The money is in escrow documented here: https://mctoon.net/escrow/
This is an update to my previous $10,000 gravity challenge. The primary change is that the money for this challenge is my own money held in escrow instead of a portion of the $100,000 that Flat Out Hero owes me. It is possible that a single submission could win both challenges simultaneously.
Since many monetary challenges are poorly conceived and dishonestly issued, I will be using the Legit Challenge Framework to prevent any modifications of the parameters, personally biased judging or other common ways that people squirm out of the challenges they issue.
The official challenge is in this downloadable file:
The uncompressed TXT file’s SHA 256 Checksum is 86db27414d366cbaf3c1d7a5eaa164bd9a74c5e2b0ca670dd2f494a2ba0f2061
The SHA256 sum was generated on command line:
shasum -a 256 gravity-challenge-2.0.txt
The contents of the file are reproduced below. Note that the reproduction here is not the official challenge, the downloadable txt file linked above with the matching checksum is the official challenge.
-----
Legit Challenge Framework v0.9b
MCToon Gravity Challenge 2.0
Preface:
The Law of Gravitational Attraction states that objects attract each other with a force varying directly as the product of the masses and inversely as the square of the distance between them. Sometimes explained simply as mass to mass attraction. On the surface of the earth this manifests as a downward force with an acceleration of about 9.8 meters per second squared.
The magnitude of the downward force is slightly counteracted by the rotation of the earth. This centrifugal force results in an upward force that slightly reduces the downward force from gravity. This counteraction varies based on latitude.
The magnitude of the force is also affected by the slight oblateness of the earth and the elevation of the observation station because this changes the distance between the centers of mass. There are other factors that affect the measured downward force however, the magnitude of the effects are small in comparison to the previously mentioned forces.
Many flat earthers claim gravity does not exist. If gravity does not exist something must be offered to explain the measured downward acceleration.
Challenge:
The challenge is to provide an alternative mechanism to accurately predict the measured downward acceleration at different points on the earth without using mass in any way. This means that mass cannot be hidden or obscured in any part of the formula, directly or indirectly. Neither can constants be included that incorporate the mass of the earth, the gravitational constant, or anything derived from the sphericity/ellipticity of the earth.
The alternative mechanism must be described such that the predicted downward acceleration for any location and elevation on earth can be calculated given the latitude, longitude, and elevation. Other data may be input into the formula if the data does not include measurements specific to the previously measured values for the strength of gravity or acceleration at the locations.
I provide a method, called the globe mechanism, to calculate the acceleration due to gravity which uses the Law of Gravitational Attraction formula, the centrifugal acceleration due to the earth’s rotation, and the elevation of the observation point referenced to the WGS84 ellipsoid. The formulas and methods are detailed in the Notes section of this document.
It is known that the measured downward acceleration is not exactly the same value everywhere on the surface of the earth. Precision measurement of this acceleration reveals slightly different values in different areas of the earth. Several international efforts have unified the measurement of the downward acceleration. One of the largest organized efforts is The International Gravity Standardization Net 1971 (IGSN 71). There are thousands of documented IGSN 71 Gravity Stations all over the world. The measured downward acceleration for many of these stations are publicly available.
Both the globe mechanism and the alternative mechanism will be used to predict the downward acceleration at 10 published IGSN 71 Gravity Stations and compared to measured values. I will select 5 IGSN 71 Gravity Stations and the challenger will select 5 IGSN 71 Gravity Stations.
The challenger must include the 5 IGSN 71 station selections in the submission. IGSN 71 results are publicly available, it is up to the challenger to find the desired station data publications.
One website that contains a large number of measurements is:
https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/gravity/
Acceptance parameters:
Each IGSN 71 Gravity Station measurement will have the globe mechanism predictions and alternative mechanism predictions calculated. The differences between predicted values and measured values will be summed for all IGSN 71 Gravity Stations for each mechanism. The mechanism with the smallest total error shall be declared the winning mechanism.
The exact method used to determine the downward acceleration for any arbitrary location must be included in the submission. All details used must be provided so that a third party can perform the same steps to get the magnitude of the acceleration. This method will be tested independently of the submitter’s answer to verify the same answer is obtained. If a different answer is obtained, the submission will be invalidated. If the method is not sufficiently described to perform calculations, the submission will be invalidated.
The method must include derivations or citations to the derivations of any numerical constants used in any formulas or calculations.
The method must only use the known and documented laws of physics. All claims about physics or the behavior of accelerating objects must have supporting experimental evidence. Unsupported claims will disqualify a submission.
Submission method:
Any combination of the following methods are acceptable:
-YouTube Video.
-Web page hosted on a web server
-Email submissions to mctoon@mctoon.net, entries submitted this way will be posted in their entirety on mctoon.net web site or via video on MCToon’s YouTube channel.
-Posting on a publicly accessible place on the internet
If there are multiple published submissions, the submitter must identify a single method as the authoritative method. The authoritative method shall be the only method evaluated when judging the challenge.
Submission communication method:
A notification of the submission must be sent via email to mctoon@mctoon.net. A confirmation of receipt via email will be sent back to the submitter. The submission is not complete until a confirmation of receipt has been received via email to the submitter.
Prize:
$10,000 US Dollars. Payment will be via Bitcoin using the most favorable to the submitter conversion rate from coinbase.com on the day the submission is first sent in UTC time zone. If the escrowed funds are less than $10,000 in value, the full balance of the escrowed funds shall be awarded. If a previous prize has been awarded for a different competition and the escrowed value is less than $10,000, the remaining balance will be awarded.
Timing and Number of solutions:
The challenge opens on June 8, 2023, at Midnight UTC. At most one single winner shall be awarded.
Escrow:
0.4BTC is held in escrow by Brainy Beaver. Brainy Beaver will transfer funds to the winner in the event of a successful solution. See escrow documentation on mctoon.net/escrow
Judge:
MCToon is the primary judge.
Arbitration:
Should an entry be submitted but rejected by the judge, and this rejection not accepted by the submitter, a panel of three experts shall be named in accordance with the Legit Challenge Framework specification version 0.9b section 5.1. See https://mctoon.net/legit-challenge-framework/
The judges must be qualified in one of the following ways:
-Professional mechanical, architectural, structural, or aerospace engineer with at least 5 years of experience and currently working in the field
-Mechanical, architectural, structural, or aerospace engineering professor at the college level or higher with at least 5 years of experience and currently teaching at that level
-Physics teacher with a Bachelor/Master/Ph.D. of Science in Physics degree and at least 5 years of experience teaching physics at high school or college level and currently teaching at that level
Documentation of credentials is required.
Expiration:
The challenge expires 10 years from the initial start date of the challenge. At MCToon’s discretion, the challenge can be withdrawn. This will be announced on MCToon’s YouTube channel with at least 30 days prior notice.
If a winner is ever declared and prizes are awarded, the challenge expires.
Notes:
Here is the method I will use to predict the magnitude of the downward acceleration for the globe mechanism.
I will use the value for G, the Gravitational Constant, and the mass of the earth, as measured by the experiment performed at the University of Washington, Seattle by Jens H. Gundlach and Stephen M. Merkowitz with the published title of "Measurement of Newton's Constant Using a Torsion Balance with Angular Acceleration Feedback”.
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.gr-qc/0006043
This is the value of G to be used: 6.674215 × 10^-11 m^3 * kg^−1 * s^−2
The value of the earth’s mass to be used: 5.972245 * 10^24 kg
I will use the WGS84 ellipsoid to calculate the distance from each IGSN 71 Gravity Station location to the center of mass of the earth. Specifically, I will be using this website to output the distance to the center of the earth’s mass: https://www.summitpost.org/distance-to-the-center-of-the-earth/849764
The WGS84 height is used, not the Geoid height. This website details all the formulas and methods used to produce the calculations. Anyone may examine the formulas documented on the page and compare to the javascript source code within the web page.
I will also use the same website to calculate the linear speed due to the earth’s rotation for the coordinates provided.
As the above-listed site requires longitude and latitude coordinates be provided as a decimal degree value instead of degrees/minutes/seconds I will use this site to convert from degrees/minutes/seconds to decimal degrees: https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/number/degrees-minutes-seconds-to-degrees.html
To calculate centrifugal acceleration I use this online calculator:
https://www.calctool.org/rotational-and-periodic-motion/centrifugal-force
I will use the formula for Newton's law of universal gravitation: f = G * M * m / r^2
Where:
f is the force of gravity
G is the gravitational constant
M is the mass of the earth
m is the mass of an object on the earth
r is the distance between the center of mass of the earth and the measurement location based on WGS84 and the local elevation of the station
Gravimeters measure the acceleration due to gravity in “gal” or “milligal” so the formula will be used to output a value in m/s^2 which is converted from gals or milligals.
Using the formula f=m*a, taking “m” to be the mass of an object accelerated towards earth and substituting for “f” into Newton's law of gravitation formula:
m * a = G * M * m / r^2
The “m” factors cancel leaving this equation:
a = G * M / r^2
I will use this to calculate the non-centrifugal acceleration due to gravity.
Next, I will calculate the centrifugal acceleration using this formula:
a = v^2 / r
Where:
a is the centrifugal acceleration
v is the lateral velocity
r is the distance between the center of mass of the earth and the measurement location based on WGS84 and the local elevation of the station
The calculated centrifugal acceleration is subtracted from the acceleration due to gravity to give the final predicted acceleration due to gravity and centrifugal acceleration at the location and elevation on the earth.
-----
MCToon 