Gravitational Chemistry

There is a factor in spacecraft design and planetary dynamics that I thought of but cannot find any reference to so, I will post it here.

Gravity makes atoms heavier. It does not change the mass of atoms but does change their weight. Suppose a piece of metal was floating in space relatively close to the sun. Radiation from the sun would impart energy to the atoms in the metal. This would cause those atoms to move faster and so cause the metal to melt when the speed of the atoms reached the metal's melting point.

Now suppose that the metal was on a planet, rather than floating in space, but was an equal distance from the sun and received an equal amount of solar energy. The solar radiation falling on the metal would be exactly the same and would impart the same amount of energy to the atoms of the metal. But this time, the atoms would be heavier due to the gravity of the planet. The atoms would not have more mass but would have more weight on the planet. The melting point of the piece of metal is based on the speed of the atoms reaching the threshold of moving too fast for the inter-atomic bonds in the metal holding to hold the atoms in a solid structure. So when that speed is reached, the metal melts.

But we must make a distinction here between the energy imparted to the atoms and their actual speed that results from that energy. Logic tells us that the metal melts when the atoms in it reach a certain speed, regardless of the energy required to get them to that speed. This means, of course, that it must require more energy to get the piece of metal to melt when it is within a stronger gravitational field. It requires more energy to get atoms to move at a certain speed when those atoms are heavier.

In this example, the mass and inter-atomic bonds of the metal are constant and only their weight due to gravity is variable. This factor has apparently not been noticed so far simply because it has not been very relevant. Gravity is rightly ignored in nuclear reactions because it is so insignificant. It has been ignored in chemical reactions thus far because when two chemicals come together and react, both must be in the same gravitational field. The modern science of chemistry was developed mostly in the Nineteenth Century when space travel and weightlessness was not considered.

The melting points of metals and other substances listed in science texts would better be described as the melting points within earth's gravitational field. Gravitational chemistry will naturally be more of a factor with heavier metals, where gravity is proportionally more important, than with lighter ones. This will make the weight of the atoms more important relative to the strength of the chemical bonds between atoms in heavier metals. It will be of most importance in a heavy metal with relatively weak inter-atomic bonds.

This hypothesis forces us to consider how we define heat. Heat is the actual energy of the atoms in motion but not their actual velocity. Heat energy causes atoms to move faster but the weight, by gravity, of the atoms is also a factor. I find no evidence that this has been considered up to now.

When we test the ability of a spacecraft component to withstand heat on earth, we must understand that it will require less heat energy to bring it to the melting point in the weightlessness of space. This can also be a factor in planetary dynamics. If a planet has seasons or has an eccentric orbit, closer to the sun at some times than at others, the melting of an icy surface on the planet will be affected by the gravity of the planet. Gravitational chemistry will probably not be much concerned with chemical reactions as it will be with melting and freezing points. There is another idea in the scientific community with the same name as this but it not the same thing at all.