I can’t wrap my head around gravity.
Or any kind of force.
In: Planetary Science
Yep. Mass doesn’t attract mass. When you have mass in one place sitting in spacetime, the spacetime curves. The curves in spacetime tell mass how to move. This is part of Einstein’s theory of relativity.
This is usually shown with a flat rubber sheet. Place a weight in the center and you’ll get a “gravity well” and if you then roll a lighter object it’ll spin down toward the center. The weight in the center isn’t pulling the rolling object, the object is rolling down the dip in the rubber. That little difference is the important part.
We do not know the actual mechanics that cause what we call gravity. It’s just something that we can see, feel, and measure, so we know it’s effects.
One of the major areas of physics study right now is the theory of quantum gravity, where they are trying to discover exactly what causes gravity at the smallest scales. Currently it looks like gravity is simply an effect of the rest of physics, and doesn’t exist in quantum theory.
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