- #1
MajorComplex
- 19
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Okay, so I'm a total noob at physics but I'm interested in it, so please bare with me... It's discribed that space is like a flat sheet of cloth and that masses that rest on this cloth curve the space around it inwards. Like this...
http://www.zarm.uni-bremen.de/2forschung/gravi/research/EP/images/gravity_middle.jpg
What confuses me though is what this diagram suggests... So the little dot on the right hand side is caught in the curvature created by the sun. Imagine for a second that that little dot is a tiny mass and is being pulled into the sun. This doesn't actually discribe what happens right? If this where so, wouldn't the smaller mass be attracted to the southern pole and not the center of mass? Also, even if that dot was just a planet caught in orbit, it would still fall inwards wouldn't it?
I understand the dinamics of space and that there is no upside down, so it applies to what ever vector you're facing the sun. But this diagram always confuses me...
http://www.zarm.uni-bremen.de/2forschung/gravi/research/EP/images/gravity_middle.jpg
What confuses me though is what this diagram suggests... So the little dot on the right hand side is caught in the curvature created by the sun. Imagine for a second that that little dot is a tiny mass and is being pulled into the sun. This doesn't actually discribe what happens right? If this where so, wouldn't the smaller mass be attracted to the southern pole and not the center of mass? Also, even if that dot was just a planet caught in orbit, it would still fall inwards wouldn't it?
I understand the dinamics of space and that there is no upside down, so it applies to what ever vector you're facing the sun. But this diagram always confuses me...
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