The Bumper-Car Paradox: Constraint Geometry and the Persistence of Orbital Motion

This paper introduces and resolves the Bumper-Car Paradox: an apparent explanatory tension between universal gravitational attraction and the observed persistence of non-collisional motion across cosmic scales. If gravity alone were assumed to determine admissible motion, one would naively expect frequent collision, merger, and collapse. Instead, the universe is dominated by long-lived orbital and spiral trajectories. The paper shows that this tension arises from conflating force with constraint. Stable orbital motion is not generated by gravity itself, but becomes possible because admissible trajectories are geometrically constrained prior to gravitational enforcement. Gravity then acts as a restoring influence, governing acceleration and stability along already-permitted paths rather than selecting those paths. The argument is supported by a structural comparison between gravitational hodographs and Lorentz-force trajectories. While gravity and magnetism are physically distinct interactions, both systems exhibit spiral motion when acting under energy-conserving, non-dissipative constraints. This similarity reflects shared geometric admissibility rather than force equivalence. Hierarchical attractors further explain how systems maintain internal coherence while participating in larger-scale gravitational flows. Local domains of admissibility preserve structure even as galaxies, groups, and clusters move toward larger attractors. Collisions and mergers occur, but are special outcomes rather than the generic state. By reclassifying gravity as enforcement within constraint, the paper resolves the Bumper-Car Paradox without modifying gravitational theory or introducing new physics. Persistent structure is shown to be a natural consequence of geometrically constrained admissibility rather than fine-tuning or auxiliary forces.