3 ms·
Is this serious scientific writing? "[...] the gravitational force the Earth exerts on you is canceled out in a freely falling elevator" and "[...] it is impos
by CDokolas 9y ago
Is this serious scientific writing?
"[...] the gravitational force the Earth exerts on you is canceled out in a freely falling elevator" and "[...] it is impossible to distinguish acceleration from gravity"? Seriously?
Isn't acceleration the result of force? Isn't gravity a force? When you are in free fall you accelerate, gravity doesn't "cancel out"!
- lightlazer 9y agoGeneral Relativity states that gravity and acceleration are equivalent, so yes, they cancel out. Unless you look outside you cannot tell whether you are in an elevator standing on ground on Earth (1g), or in space accelerating upwards at 1g.
- madaxe_again 9y agoGravity is not a force. It’s just tensor warping, which manifests as acceleration in our paltry 3d realm, which you experience as a force. Similarly in the falling lift there is no force making you float, just an apparent relative acceleration that you experience as a force.
- woahhvicky 9y agoIt does because the frame is not inertial. There is a fictitious force “pushing you upward” because the elevator is accelerating downward. The fictitious force pushing you upward perfectly cancels the gravity pulling you downward and you feel no net force inside the frame.
- iofiiiiiiiii 9y agoI do not find anything at fault in saying it cancels out. Possibly you are too strictly affixed to some notions?