On 5/28/2025 2:09 PM, Alan Grayson wrote:
On Wednesday, May 28, 2025 at 2:26:25 PM UTC-6 Alan Grayson wrote:
On Wednesday, May 28, 2025 at 1:56:51 PM UTC-6 John Clark wrote:
On Wed, May 28, 2025 at 3:45 PM Alan Grayson
<[email protected]> wrote:
/> Why does it "want" to fall when you cease applying the
upward force?/
*Because if no force is applied the apple wants to take the
shortest path possible through 4D space-time; or to put
another way, it wants to take the longest possible proper time
to get from your hand to the ground. Remember that unlike the
formula for calculating the distance in space, the formula for
calculating the spacetime distance between two events contains
a minus sign, that's why space is different from time. *
But before it starts to move, how does it know which path
satisfies the requirement you allege? AG
I don't think it knows or wants anything. And I don't think GR can
answer my question. It must be a postulate of GR, that geodesic paths
maximize proper time and consequently this is the path a test particle
will take in free fall. In other words, we don't actually KNOW why it
takes the path it does. AG
It's just a definition of "geodesic" that geodesic paths maximize proper
time. Did you KNOW why massive bodies attracted one another in
Newtonian physics? Do you know why like charges repel and opposite
charges attract, instead of the other way around? If I told you it was
God's will that test particles fall along geodesics would you then KNOW
why? There are never answers to "why" questions at a fundamental
level...otherwise they wouldn't be fundamental.
Brent
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