The gravitational disc thing is not accurate at all. The supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy is, like any black hole, not observable directly. We can only infer its existance through the gravitational effects on surrounding matter. We see stars in the centre orbiting the black hole as one might expect. From that we can deduce its mass and so conclude it can only be a stellar remnant of the form of a black hole.
Gravitational attraction between two bodies is dependant on seperation and the masses of both bodies. Rotation doesn't affect the strength of attraction, it may well cause gravitational waves* but these, if they exist, are so weak that we can't even detect them with current highly specialised detectors. The galaxy is flattened simply due to conservation of angular momentum, the same reason the mass in the solar system is highly concentrated around a plane.
As for the Earth's axis of rotation changing, that too involves angular momentum. For the Earth to suddenly begin rotating around a pole through Moscow, say, that would require the Earth's enormous momentum to be simply overridden. A wobble is very different from a change of axis (think of a gyroscope wobbling and precessing; the Earth does these too but on long timescales).
It's bullshit. It really is. Giving such a baseless idea any kind of weight is not being open-minded, it's just daft.
Don't worry about it.
*I spoke recently to a PhD student in my department who is heavily involved with the forefront of gravitational wave research and it was very interesting stuff.
If these posts have been too rambling it's because it's late, sorry.
Gravitational attraction between two bodies is dependant on seperation and the masses of both bodies. Rotation doesn't affect the strength of attraction, it may well cause gravitational waves* but these, if they exist, are so weak that we can't even detect them with current highly specialised detectors. The galaxy is flattened simply due to conservation of angular momentum, the same reason the mass in the solar system is highly concentrated around a plane.
As for the Earth's axis of rotation changing, that too involves angular momentum. For the Earth to suddenly begin rotating around a pole through Moscow, say, that would require the Earth's enormous momentum to be simply overridden. A wobble is very different from a change of axis (think of a gyroscope wobbling and precessing; the Earth does these too but on long timescales).
It's bullshit. It really is. Giving such a baseless idea any kind of weight is not being open-minded, it's just daft.
Don't worry about it.
*I spoke recently to a PhD student in my department who is heavily involved with the forefront of gravitational wave research and it was very interesting stuff.
If these posts have been too rambling it's because it's late, sorry.
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