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Devilin
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Gravity? Did he fall or was he pushed?
A. relatively simple question, is gravity a pulling force or a pushing force, or both?
A. relatively simple question, is gravity a pulling force or a pushing force, or both?
Originally posted by Mentat
Devilin, the answer is: Neither. It is not a push or a pull, because there is no such thing as force. Before you right me off as a kook, I should explain. You see, Einstein postulated General Relativity, and it is the currently accepted theory of gravity (though some do disagree). In General Relativity (GR), what we think of as the "force" of gravity is really just a result of the curvature of spacetime.
In case you haven't heard of anything like this before, I'll post an analogy: Imagine a two-dimensional "flat man", who lives his life out on a piece of paper (which will represent the Universe altogether). Now, let's say that I (three-dimensional God) bend the piece of paper, right in front of where the flat man was about to walk. Obviously, he would move in a "crooked" path, due to the bent nature of the space he's walking on, but as far as he's concerned there must be a force that is either pushing or pulling him to move in that direction.
Does that make sense?
Personally I've always assumed, that a object if containing enough mass would pull other objects towards it, the mass itself being the pulling object, although now I've reached a uneasy conclusion that the mass of a object, purchase space time onto a objectOriginally posted by HallsofIvy
Devilin: Perhaps it would help if you gave a PRECISE definition of the "Push" and "Pull".
Originally posted by Mentat
Devilin, the answer is: Neither. It is not a push or a pull, because there is no such thing as force. Before you right me off as a kook, I should explain. You see, Einstein postulated General Relativity, and it is the currently accepted theory of gravity (though some do disagree). In General Relativity (GR), what we think of as the "force" of gravity is really just a result of the curvature of spacetime.
In case you haven't heard of anything like this before, I'll post an analogy: Imagine a two-dimensional "flat man", who lives his life out on a piece of paper (which will represent the Universe altogether). Now, let's say that I (three-dimensional God) bend the piece of paper, right in front of where the flat man was about to walk. Obviously, he would move in a "crooked" path, due to the bent nature of the space he's walking on, but as far as he's concerned there must be a force that is either pushing or pulling him to move in that direction.
Does that make sense?
Gravity is a force that exists between any two objects with mass. It is responsible for keeping objects in orbit around each other and for the formation of planets, stars, and galaxies.
Gravity works by pulling objects towards each other. The strength of the gravitational force between two objects depends on their masses and the distance between them.
We experience gravity on Earth because our planet has a large mass, which creates a strong gravitational force. This force pulls us towards the center of the Earth, keeping us on the surface.
No, gravity is not the same everywhere in the universe. The strength of gravity depends on the mass and distance of objects, so it can vary in different parts of the universe.
As far as we know, yes, gravity has always existed. It is one of the four fundamental forces of nature and has been present since the beginning of the universe.