The Temperature of Meteorites and Dirac's Cosmology and Mach's Principle
Abstract
Arguments based on Mach's principle and on numerical coincidences in the astrophysical data lead to the idea that the strength of the gravitational interaction may be decreasing with time. This would imply that the radiation rate of the sun was larger in the past and that asteroids and meteorite bodies were warmer, possibly leading to loss of argon from the material of the meteorites. It is shown from the observed potassium-argon ages of meteorites that the strength of the gravitational interaction has not been decreasing by more than about 1 part in 1010 per year. This limit does not seem to rule out any of the cosmologies in which the strength of the gravitational interaction is variable.
- Publication:
-
Journal of Geophysical Research
- Pub Date:
- September 1962
- DOI:
- 10.1029/JZ067i010p04063
- Bibcode:
- 1962JGR....67.4063P