4 ms·
Fair enough. I guess I always think of "gravity" as "gravitational field strength caused by matter" (the gradient of "Einstein's rubber sheet", if you like), so
by vmilner 14y ago
Fair enough. I guess I always think of "gravity" as "gravitational field strength caused by matter" (the gradient of "Einstein's rubber sheet", if you like), so a free-falling object near Earth will always have plenty.
- ColinWright 14y agoI think of it like that, but then relativize it to the motion of the reference frame. To see how, take the usual visualization of the gravity well and mark on it where you are. Then take a tangent plane at that point. The gravity well is below that plane, and hence falls away from you, along the line towards and away from the gravity source, but is above the plane in the fore/aft direction. This explains why tidal forces act inwards in a plane perpendicular to a line joining you with the gravity source, but outwards along that line. It's a useful visualization.