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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Why do we orbit the sun if space is not flat?
« on: 15/03/2012 22:58:32 »
Hi
Because the sun has such a large mass it creates a warp in spacetime which means we appear to be traveling in an elipse when were really traveling in a straight line through space that is curved.
I understand the above idea but im confused.
Ive seen a demonstration somewhere that showed a stretched out peice of rubber with a heavy ball representing the sun in the centre, whilst the dent in the rubber it made showed the warp in the surrounding space another smaller ball representing the Earth was pushed and for a short while it circles the pretend sun as you would expect.
This would only work if space like the rubber sheet were flat otherwise there would be just as much gravity at work pulling the space the opposite way as gravity works upside down aswell as all angles id have thought. I.e. imagine the gravity effects of the rubber sheet being upside down and it should cancel out any warp. I hope this makes sense
Any Ideas would be great
Cheers
Ace
Because the sun has such a large mass it creates a warp in spacetime which means we appear to be traveling in an elipse when were really traveling in a straight line through space that is curved.
I understand the above idea but im confused.
Ive seen a demonstration somewhere that showed a stretched out peice of rubber with a heavy ball representing the sun in the centre, whilst the dent in the rubber it made showed the warp in the surrounding space another smaller ball representing the Earth was pushed and for a short while it circles the pretend sun as you would expect.
This would only work if space like the rubber sheet were flat otherwise there would be just as much gravity at work pulling the space the opposite way as gravity works upside down aswell as all angles id have thought. I.e. imagine the gravity effects of the rubber sheet being upside down and it should cancel out any warp. I hope this makes sense
Any Ideas would be great
Cheers
Ace