When Einstein formulated his theory of General relativity and very accurately calculated the "precession of the perihelion" of the planet mercury. He explained a mystery that had puzzled scientists for centuries, "The precession of the perihelion of Mercury"
refers to the slow, gradual shift in the point of Mercury's closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) over time. This effect is thought to be primarily caused by the effects of general relativity, and was a key validation of Einstein's theory; this precession is not fully explained by Newtonian gravity alone, showing a small but measurable discrepancy that Einstein's theory perfectly predicted.
However, what was not known at the time and which must surely effect the result is the fact that Mercury’s core is partially liquid and that too not ordinary liquid but silicon which I suppose amounts to a semi-solid type of liquid. Maybe, just maybe, this circumstance of having a partially liquid or semi-solid core, is what causes a day on Mercury to be approx. 57 earth days long and a year to be 85 earth days long approximately or a ratio of 3:2 between its rotation on it axis and its orbit around the sun. This circumstance of a semi-solid liquid core must also surely affect the precession of the perihelion of Mercury as it orbits the sun.
An interesting (but unthinkable) corollary to this is the question of how did Einstein arrive at such accurate results? After all the precession of Mercury shows a difference of only 43 arcseconds every Century from the results arrived at by using purely Newtonian dynamics. For Einstein to make such delicate adjustments is truly remarkable especially when it is known that he did not know about Mercury’s semi-liquid core. Could he have been working backwards?
refers to the slow, gradual shift in the point of Mercury's closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) over time. This effect is thought to be primarily caused by the effects of general relativity, and was a key validation of Einstein's theory; this precession is not fully explained by Newtonian gravity alone, showing a small but measurable discrepancy that Einstein's theory perfectly predicted.
However, what was not known at the time and which must surely effect the result is the fact that Mercury’s core is partially liquid and that too not ordinary liquid but silicon which I suppose amounts to a semi-solid type of liquid. Maybe, just maybe, this circumstance of having a partially liquid or semi-solid core, is what causes a day on Mercury to be approx. 57 earth days long and a year to be 85 earth days long approximately or a ratio of 3:2 between its rotation on it axis and its orbit around the sun. This circumstance of a semi-solid liquid core must also surely affect the precession of the perihelion of Mercury as it orbits the sun.
An interesting (but unthinkable) corollary to this is the question of how did Einstein arrive at such accurate results? After all the precession of Mercury shows a difference of only 43 arcseconds every Century from the results arrived at by using purely Newtonian dynamics. For Einstein to make such delicate adjustments is truly remarkable especially when it is known that he did not know about Mercury’s semi-liquid core. Could he have been working backwards?
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