Quote:
Originally Posted by uncommonsense
Then does it follow, logically: if "time" is a mere representation for the rate of change of distance; and since a mass cannot speed up all on its own (rate of change), then it must be that distance is less within the G field than it is outside the same field (or the space metric is "shorter" within the field)?
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From an outside reference frame distances are different.
Take a object falling into a black hole. To the outside observer the object would appear to slow down as it approaches the event horizon of the black hole. In a sense it would, travel a shorter amount of distance in the same amount of time. But to the object it would actually be increasing its speed thus travelling a larger distance.
So yes to the outside observer the distance would be less then the inside observer observes. Sounds weird but our universe while at the large scale is very Euclidean when we look closely it is a bit off. IE measure a spherical surface around a given mass. based on its circumference calculate its radius then calculate its area. The area within that surface is actually larger then the calculated area and the difference is based on the amount of mass. The more mass the larger the area.
Distances along with time are relative. Different points in the gravity well will measure things differently.