Why is gravity visualized by putting a heavy object on a flat plane, creating the curved shape, when space is 3D?

Question

Wouldn’t it curve and pull objects in all directions?

In: 279

Answer 1

https://youtu.be/wrwgIjBUYVc?si=WxdExwJiqVZWm3ct addresses this problem better than I can, and comes up with a much better visualisation. Less curved sheet, more seeing the curvature of space-time as a flow.

The curvature of space-time by mass causes “straight” lines to get bent slightly out of the time dimension into a spacial one, causing objects to fall toward the mass. The acceleration in space comes with a slight slow down in how fast you’re moving through time, which is a real measured effect.