How Spacetime is Stretched/Compressed: Experiments?

[fys iks!]

Hey

When someone says that spacetime is stretched or compressed, is it meant to be taken literally? If so how would one determine which areas of spacetime are thicker/thinner
(i know we can look at the metric but I am talking about experimentally how would we know)? Or is this just another way of saying space is curved?

thanks

 

[Mentz114]

Experimentally we can observe the rate that something falls and measure tidal effects, both being effects of spacetime curvature, or compression or whatever you call it. But the theory tells us nothing about what is actually there, causing things to move.