action-at-a-distance theory

physics

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July 23, 2026

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In physics, "action at a distance" refers to the Newtonian concept of gravity, where forces between bodies were thought to act instantaneously across space without any intervening medium. This idea is inconsistent with special relativity, which posits that information travels at the speed of light. Modern physics, particularly general relativity, describes gravity as a field phenomenon, where mass curves space-time, and objects follow the shortest paths (geodesics) in this curved space-time. This field theory approach explains gravitational effects without invoking instantaneous action across distances.12

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electromagnetic radiation
Wave theory and corpuscular theory
…without a discernible contact, or “action at a distance,” contradicts common sense and has been an unacceptable notion since antiquity. Whenever the nature of the transmission of certain actions and effects over a distance was not yet understood, the ether was resorted to as a conceptual solution of the transmitting…
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…without a discernible contact, or “action at a distance,” contradicts common sense and has been an unacceptable notion since antiquity. Whenever the nature of the transmission of certain actions and effects over a distance was not yet understood, the ether was resorted to as a conceptual solution of the transmitting…
Read More