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How We Know Gravity is Not (Just) a Force
Illustration of a binary system radiating gravity waves. Credit: ESO/L. Calçada.
When we think of gravity, we typically think of it as a force between masses. When you step on a scale, for example, the number on the scale represents the pull of the Earth’s gravity on your mass, giving you weight. It is easy to imagine the gravitational force of the Sun holding the planets in their orbits, or the gravitational pull of a black hole. Forces are easy to understand as pushes and pulls.
But we now understand that gravity as a force is only part of a more complex phenomenon described the the theory of general relativity. While general relativity is an elegant theory, it’s a radical departure from the idea of gravity as a force. As Carl Sagan once said, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” and Einstein’s theory is a very extraordinary claim. But it turns out there are several extraordinary experiments that confirm the curvature of space and time.(…)
Read the rest of How We Know Gravity is Not (Just) a Force (1,197 words)
© Brian Koberlein for Universe Today, 2014. |
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Post tags: albert einstein, General Relativity, gravity, gravity waves, Isaac Newton
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Source: http://www.universetoday.com/108740/how-we-know-gravity-is-not-just-a-force/
