A Third Alternative to the Generation of Energy by Fission and Fusion
Robert J. Heaston
John Archibald Wheeler, one of the three co-authors of Gravitation, probably wrote in 1973 the last words in the text that said ?Gravitational collapse is . . . the greatest crisis of physics of all time.? Wheeler was referring to the prediction by Einstein that matter ultimately collapses to a singularity and the breakdown of physical laws. Reconstruction of the Einstein derivation of his field equations of general relativity indicates a new interpretation that resolves the gravitational collapse crisis. Matter does not collapse to a singularity. The collapse of matter under the gravitational force reaches a finite limit that exhibits all the attributes of a phase change where any matter is converted into energy. This phase change is a third alternative to fission and fusion for the conversion of matter to energy. Six different characteristics have been defined for the onset of this phase change. Two of the six are the superforce and the Planck scale, which the standard model predicts as the point of convergence of the four fundamental forces, which include gravitation. The ferocity of nuclear explosions and the catastrophic nature of supernova could both be due to the release of the superforce in the transition of mass to energy. Big bang theory, inflation theory, models of black holes, and string theory are all impacted by resolution of Wheeler's crisis. The 21st century physics paradigm would be drastically changed if matter collapses to energy rather than a singularity. TOPIC AREA: Gravity or Energy.
