how does gravity in a vacuum work is there a particle force or field that pulls on the affected object how does it reach across a vacuum where there is no touching matter.

Question

.So the space station is orbiting in our planet I understand that it’s being pulled down and its current inclination of orbit at the same time to where it’s technically in constant free fall and I also understand that Newton’s first law is an object in motion will stay out motion until force is acted upon it. But when I think about gravity I can’t seem to understand how it pulls does gravity have a particle or a link to the object it’s pulling in some way?

In: Physics

Answer 1

Gravity isn’t an emitted field or anything like that.

Think of it like this:

The universe is a giant sheet of cloth that is stretched tight.

Marbles rest on top of that cloth.

Bigger marbles cause indentations in the cloth, the heavier the marble the deeper and wider the indentation becomes.

When marbles start moving across the top of the cloth they will start rolling into indentations, some indentations are only deep enough to slightly change the trajectory of the marble but the bigger indentations will cause smaller, slower moving marbles to get trapped. These are gravity wells, as more marbles accumulate in each indentation they get deeper and deeper.