I’ll preface this by saying that I have a very good understanding of Newtonian mechanics, but only an amateur’s understanding of Einstein’s relativity.
I understand that Newton’s law of gravitation is insufficient to accurately describe and predict certain physical phenomena, and that Einstein’s relativity “fixes” this. I don’t understand, however, why we must do away with the model of gravity as a force to build a better model. Couldn’t Newton’s law of gravitation be amended to account for the discrepancies? It looks to me as if it’s a question of which mental model we prefer. Saying that gravity isn’t a force, it is a curvature, or vice-versa, sounds to me like saying that positive charges are actually negative and negative charges are actually positive, i.e., a matter of convention. Whether gravity >is< one or the other seems to me much more a matter of philosophy than physics properly.
So why is this such a central point?
In: Physics
Newton’s Law of Gravity is a good approximation of what is observed, and still useful when designing a bridge or aeroplane. It doesn’t give any hint as to the reason WHY there is an attractive force between objects. Gravity as curvature of spacetime provides an explanation of the reason for what we experience.
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