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Old 24-June-2009, 03:30 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mugaliens View Post
As grant mentioned, "Whether you can say that spacetime curvature is what really causes the deviation from straight-line movement is a philosophical point that I think has been debated on BAUT quite recently."

I do not believe gravity is a force at all, as F=ma, and yet gravity works in a finite manner on massless particles such as photons, thereby creating an apparent discontinuity via indeterminency. Yet GR's equations describe the effects on both particles with mass, as well as massless particles, with aplomb. We know spacetime curvature is real, the equations work, so I propose we stick with that framework instead of working out conceptual ways of shoehorning Newtonian mechanics into the a relativistic framework.
I know; I just felt compelled to ask the question.

You know, what's funny is that in schools they teach these things mostly in accordance with Newtonian mechanics. Actually, I don't think spacetime is even taught in colleges (not for undergraduates at least). But anyway.

Thank you both for your answers. Any more comments are most welcome.
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