I Free Fall vs Acceleration: Einstein's Theory Explained

TheWonderer1
Messages
88
Reaction score
1
How does this work exactly? I can understand depending on frame of reference but I read that Einstein stated there is a right way to think about that based on inertial and non-inertial frame of references.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
In physics, if there is no way to distinguish two things, they are the same.

If you are in a box that is accelerating, what you experience is being pushed to one side of the box.
You would intuitively assign that side the special label "floor", and how hard you press into it would be your "weight".

This is also what you experience standing in a box on the Earth, but not when you are in a box in freefall... it follows that standing on the Earth is not distinguishable from a situation where you are accelerating while freefall is not distinguishable from the situation where you are not accelerating.

That's not all there is to it - but it's a starting point.
 
TheWonderer1 said:
How does this work exactly?
Look up "equivalence principle" and "proper acceleration" vs. "coordinate acceleration".
 
Thread 'Can this experiment break Lorentz symmetry?'

Thread 'Can this experiment break Lorentz symmetry?'

1. The Big Idea: According to Einstein’s relativity, all motion is relative. You can’t tell if you’re moving at a constant velocity without looking outside. But what if there is a universal “rest frame” (like the old idea of the “ether”)? This experiment tries to find out by looking for tiny, directional differences in how objects move inside a sealed box. 2. How It Works: The Two-Stage Process Imagine a perfectly isolated spacecraft (our lab) moving through space at some unknown speed V...
View full post »

Thread '1-Way Speed of Light'

Does the speed of light change in a gravitational field depending on whether the direction of travel is parallel to the field, or perpendicular to the field? And is it the same in both directions at each orientation? This question could be answered experimentally to some degree of accuracy. Experiment design: Place two identical clocks A and B on the circumference of a wheel at opposite ends of the diameter of length L. The wheel is positioned upright, i.e., perpendicular to the ground...
View full post »

Thread 'How can a black hole absorb matter?'

According to the General Theory of Relativity, time does not pass on a black hole, which means that processes they don't work either. As the object becomes heavier, the speed of matter falling on it for an observer on Earth will first increase, and then slow down, due to the effect of time dilation. And then it will stop altogether. As a result, we will not get a black hole, since the critical mass will not be reached. Although the object will continue to attract matter, it will not be a...
View full post »

Similar threads

A Does the EP imply that a free-falling observer follows a geodesic?
Replies
3
Views
481
B Why do things in free fall accelerate?
Replies
47
Views
6K
I Equivalence principle question
Replies
36
Views
4K
I Invariant definition of acceleration in Newtonian physics vs proper acceleration in GR
Replies
30
Views
2K
I About global inertial frames in GR
2
Replies
78
Views
7K
I How does GR deal with pointlike objects with mass?
Replies
5
Views
202
I Einstein's Equivalence Principle: Freely Falling Local Frames
Replies
4
Views
1K
I Does the metric in general relativity depend only on position because of the equivalence principle?
Replies
16
Views
2K
I Principle of relativity in the proof of invariance of interval
2
Replies
53
Views
5K
B Einstein's Twin Paradox: Confusing Solution?
Replies
11
Views
2K

Hot Threads

Recent Insights

Back
Top