High School Difference between Gravitational Force and Gravity?

[K00lDudE1]

What is the difference between the gravitational force and gravity?

Because I was under the impression that gravity is not a force, but one of the 4 fundamental forces of nature is the gravitational force, so I was wondering what the difference between the two is?

 

[jbriggs444]

What is the difference between the gravitational force and gravity?

Because I was under the impression that gravity is not a force, but one of the 4 fundamental forces of nature is the gravitational force, so I was wondering what the difference between the two is?

If you are trying to ask whether gravity really is or is not a force then there is no answer. We can model the effects of gravity using the Newtonian model. In this model, there is a gravitational force that causes objects to accelerate against a background Euclidean coordinate system with 3 dimensions of space and one independent dimension of time.

Or we can model the effects of gravity using the model of general relativity. In this model there is no gravitational force. Objects subject to no non-gravitational influences move in straight line trajectories (geodesics) which appear curved against a background geometry which is not Euclidean and which conforms to the Einstein Field Equations.

To the extent that both models give the same predictions for the same experimental setup, it is pointless to ask which model is "really" correct. Pick whichever one provides the best computational simplicity for the needed accuracy for the task at hand and leave the rest to the philosophers.

 

[A.T.]

Because I was under the impression that gravity is not a force, but one of the 4 fundamental forces of nature is the gravitational force, so I was wondering what the difference between the two is?

It's a different meaning of "force":
- The "(Newtonian) force of gravity" refers to a very specific model.
- A "Fundamental force" refers to an interaction, in a more general sense.