The Theory Lacking Underlying Foundation: The Theory of Universal Gravitation

The definition of universal gravitation states that any two massive objects in nature exert an attractive force on each other. The law of universal gravitation further specifies that the magnitude of the gravitational force between any two particles is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them; the force acts along the line connecting the two particles as a mutual attraction. Based on observational facts of the Solar System, this paper carries out analysis: the Sun accounts for 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System, while all remaining planets, dwarf planets, satellites, asteroids, comets and interstellar dust together make up only 0.14%, most of which belongs to Jupiter and Saturn. The gravitational influence of the Sun covers a vast range and can act on the center of mass of the Earth. In contrast, the gravitational range of a planet is limited and cannot reach the Sun’s center of mass to exert gravitational force upon it. By extension, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, dwarf planets, comets and other celestial bodies share the same feature: only massive bodies attract smaller ones, which fails to satisfy the core premise of “mutual attraction” and creates a logical contradiction with the definition of universal gravitation. Furthermore, the Big Bang theory is the mainstream framework for cosmic evolution, supported by observations such as cosmological redshift and cosmic microwave background radiation. This model holds that the universe originated from the expansion of a singularity, and various galaxies formed as matter dynamically expanded and locally clustered. If universal gravitation were the only dominant force between celestial bodies, the expanding and diffusing matter would keep contracting and converging under gravity, eventually forming a single compact mass. It would be impossible to form diverse and stably distributed galaxies. Therefore, the pure gravitational framework is fundamentally inconsistent with observations of cosmic expansion and galaxy differentiation. In addition, black holes, binary star systems, the Kuiper Belt, the asteroid belt and comet clusters are scattered and clustered instead of merging into one single body. Many astronomical phenomena, including the power source of elliptical orbital motion, ocean tides on Earth and the arrangement of planets in the Solar System, cannot be explained self-consistently by the law of universal gravitation. Gravitational waves, celestial resonance and dark matter also remain difficult to interpret within this theory. The theoretical framework of the Relative Shadow-Image Model is expected to resolve these self-inconsistent problems existing in the universal gravitation framework, and provides a new mechanical approach for re-understanding the motion laws of celestial bodies.