A Relativistic Gravitational Model Based on an Atom's Behavior in a Gravitational Field

A simple general relativity theory for objects moving in gravitational fields is developed based on studying the behavior of an atom in a gravitational field. The theory is applied to calculate the satellite time dilation, light deflection by the sun, and Mercury's precession with an error of less than 1%. The approach to the new theory introduced here is radically different from the geometric approach used by Einstein's general relativity. The theory is field based where the potential energy of a system of masses can be easily calculated and the force can be found as the gradient of the potential field in analogy to the Newtonian mechanics. The resulting field equations become the traditional Newton's equations when week gravitational effects are present. The theory complies with all the known experimental results such as the gravitational time dilation and faster light speeds higher in the gravitational field. The special relativity theory of an object moving without experiencing gravitational fields can be derived directly from the gravitational field equations introduced here. The theory introduced here has crucial differences to Einstein's general relativity theory. For example, the gravitational field cannot accelerate an object to higher than the speed of light and the event horizon of a black hole (where light cannot escape) has to be of zero radius, essentially meaning that light can escape any object unless the object has infinite density. Another primary consequence of this study is that the principle of equivalence of gravitational and inertial mass has only limited validity and a new definition of gravitational mass is given here.