How does general relativity explain gravity as spacetime curvature?

General relativity says that gravity happens because mass bends spacetime, like a heavy ball on a trampoline makes a dent.

Imagine you're playing with a trampoline, it's soft and stretchy, like the fabric of space. Now, if you put a big ball in the middle, it pulls down and creates a dip. That’s like how Earth bends the space around it. When something moves through that dip, like another ball rolling toward the center, it follows the curve, just like how we feel pulled toward Earth.

Like a Bumpy Ride

Now imagine you're on a roller coaster. The track is curving because of the hills and dips, you don’t feel magic pushing you forward; you’re just following the shape of the ride. In general relativity, planets and stars are like that roller coaster, they move along the curve of space caused by other heavy objects.

So gravity isn't a force pulling you down from above, it's more like a path in space that guides things to move toward each other, just as a dip on a trampoline makes balls roll together.

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Examples

  1. Imagine a trampoline: when you place a heavy ball on it, the surface bends. A smaller ball rolls toward it, like how gravity works in space.

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