Eli5: How does gravity affect time, dumb it down for me as much as possible
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Basically, space and time are tied together to describe where we are in existance. But space and time is distorted and we see that distortion as gravity. ELI5 coming up now:
Imagine there are two ants that are super near sighted and cannot make out what they’re standing on. They’re standing side by side and facing the same direction.
If they’re on a flat table top and start walking, then they’ll stay right next to each other. This is because a parallel lines on a flat surface do not cross.
If they’re on a beach ball and start walking, then they’ll eventually get closer to each other until they bump into each other. They’re super nearsighted so they might think that something is pushing them together and call this mysterious thing a “force” called “gravity”. In actuality, they’re not being pushed towards each other, but their paths come together due to the true curvature of their world (the beach ball). For example, longitudinal lines on a globe cross at the north and south poles because the true shape of the Earth is curved even though it may look flat to us on the surface.
Gravity is not a force, but evidence that the true shape of the world is not flat.
If they’re on a ping-pong ball and start walking, then they will run into each other more quickly. They’re super nearsighted so they might think that the force of gravity is stronger here. But in actually, the world is just more curved.
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