rayh20•1d ago

Why does nobody talk about gravity as curved space instead of a force?

Seeing it this way made planets' orbits click for me right away, unlike the old idea of a pull.

4 comments

4 Comments

So when does the marble rolling in a bowl picture start to fall apart for you? Like, it's great for planets going around the sun, but I get hung up on stuff falling straight down. If I drop my pen, it's not rolling into a dip, it just falls. How does curved space explain that simple drop right here on Earth without some kind of pull feeling?

oliverr221d ago

The way you described gravity as curved space really hit home for me. I always pictured it as this invisible force pulling things down. But seeing it like space itself is bent, that made planets' orbits make total sense. It's like a marble rolling around a bowl instead of something magically tugging at it. That visual just locked it in my brain, way better than any textbook force diagram. Now I can't unsee it, and I wish more people explained it that way!

garcia.wren12h ago

I always imagined it as a pull too until someone drew the bowl for me. Now the force diagram feels totally backwards.

sam91236m ago

It's just another model that works for big stuff. Newton's force idea still gets the job done for most things we do. Not sure why people act like it's a huge deal either way.