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THE ELEGANT UNIVERSE, Brian Greene, 1999, 2003
```(annotated and with added bold highlights by Epsilon=One)
```(annotated and with added bold highlights by Epsilon=One)
Chapter 3 - Of Warps and Ripples
The Basics of General Relativity
To get a feel for this new view of gravity, let's consider the prototypical situation of a planet, such as the earth, revolving around a star, such as the sun. In Newtonian gravity the sun keeps the earth in orbit with an unidentified gravitational "tether" that somehow instantaneously reaches out across vast distances of space and grabs hold of the earth (and, similarly, the earth reaches out and grabs hold of the sun). Einstein provided a new conception of what actually happens. It will aid in our discussion of Einstein's approach to have a concrete visual model of spacetime that we can conveniently manipulate. To do so, we will simplify things in two ways. First, for the moment, we will ignore time and focus solely on a visual model of space. We will reincorporate time in our discussion shortly. Second, in order to allow us to draw and manipulate visual images on the pages of this book, we will often refer to a two-dimensional analog of three-dimensional space. Most of the insight we gain from thinking in terms of this lower-dimensional model is directly applicable to the physical three-dimensional setting, so the simpler model provides a powerful pedagogical device.
In Figure 3.3, we make use of these simplifications and draw a two-dimensional model of a spatial region of our universe. The grid-like structure indicates a convenient means of specifying positions just as a street grid gives a means of specifying locations in a city. In a city, of course, one gives an address by specifying a location on the two-dimensional street grid and also giving a location in the vertical direction, such as a floor number.
It is the latter information, location in the third spatial dimension, that our two-dimensional analogy suppresses for visual clarity.
A massive body like the sun, and indeed any body, exerts a gravitational force on other objects. In the example of the terrorist bomb, we learned that gravitational forces are indistinguishable from accelerated motion. In the example of the Tornado ride, we learned that a mathematical description of accelerated motion requires the relations of curved space. These links between gravity, accelerated motion, and curved space led Einstein to the remarkable suggestion that the presence of mass, such as the sun, causes the fabric of space around it to warp, as shown in Figure 3.4. A useful, and oft-quoted, analogy is that much like a rubber membrane on which a bowling ball has been placed, the fabric of space becomes distorted due to the presence of a massive object like the sun.
This warping, in turn, affects other objects moving in the vicinity of the sun, as they now must traverse the distorted spatial fabric. Using the rubber membrane—bowling ball analogy, if we place a small ball-bearing on the membrane and set it off with some initial velocity, the path it will follow depends on whether or not the bowling ball is sitting in the center. If the bowling ball is absent, the rubber membrane will be flat and the ball bearing will travel along a straight line. If the bowling ball is present and thereby warps the membrane, the ball bearing will travel along a curved path. In fact, ignoring friction, if we set the ball bearing moving with just the right speed in just the right direction, it will continue to move in a recurring curved path around the bowling ball—in effect, it will "go into orbit." Our language presages the application of this analogy to gravity.
The sun, like the bowling ball, warps the fabric of space surrounding it, and the earth's motion, like that of the ball bearing, is determined by the shape of the warp. The earth, like the ball bearing, will move in orbit around the sun if its speed and orientation have suitable values. This effect on the motion of the earth is what we normally would refer to as the gravitational influence of the sun, and is illustrated in Figure 3.5. The difference, now, is that unlike Newton, Einstein has specified the mechanism by which gravity is transmitted: the warping of space. In Einstein's view, the gravitational tether holding the earth in orbit is not some mysterious instantaneous action of the sun; rather, it is the warping of the spatial fabric caused by the sun's presence.
An important point to note is that the ball bearing itself warps the rubber membrane, although only slightly. Similarly, the earth, being a massive body in its own right, also warps the fabric of space, although far less than the sun. This is how, in the language of general relativity, the earth keeps the moon in orbit, and it is also how the earth keeps each of us bound to its surface. As a skydiver plunges earthward, he or she is sliding down a depression in the spatial fabric caused by the earth's mass. Moreover, each of us—like any massive object—also warps the spatial fabric in close proximity to our bodies, although the comparatively small mass of a human body makes this a minuscule indentation.
In summary then, Einstein fully agreed with Newton's statement that "Gravity must be caused by an agent" and rose to Newton's challenge in which the identity of the agent was left "to the consideration of my readers." The agent of gravity, according to Einstein, is the fabric of the cosmos.
In Figure 3.3, we make use of these simplifications and draw a two-dimensional model of a spatial region of our universe. The grid-like structure indicates a convenient means of specifying positions just as a street grid gives a means of specifying locations in a city. In a city, of course, one gives an address by specifying a location on the two-dimensional street grid and also giving a location in the vertical direction, such as a floor number.
It is the latter information, location in the third spatial dimension, that our two-dimensional analogy suppresses for visual clarity.
Figure 3.3 A schematic representation of flat space.
In the absence of any matter or energy Einstein envisioned that space would be flat. In our two-dimensional model, this means that the "shape" of space should be like the surface of a smooth table, as drawn in Figure 3.3. This is the image of our spatial universe commonly held for thousands of years. But what happens to space if a massive object like the sun is present? Before Einstein the answer was nothing; space (and time) were thought to provide an inert theater, merely setting the stage on which the events of the universe play themselves out. The chain of Einstein's reasoning that we have been following, however, leads to a different conclusion.A massive body like the sun, and indeed any body, exerts a gravitational force on other objects. In the example of the terrorist bomb, we learned that gravitational forces are indistinguishable from accelerated motion. In the example of the Tornado ride, we learned that a mathematical description of accelerated motion requires the relations of curved space. These links between gravity, accelerated motion, and curved space led Einstein to the remarkable suggestion that the presence of mass, such as the sun, causes the fabric of space around it to warp, as shown in Figure 3.4. A useful, and oft-quoted, analogy is that much like a rubber membrane on which a bowling ball has been placed, the fabric of space becomes distorted due to the presence of a massive object like the sun.
Figure 3.4 A massive body like the sun causes the fabric of space to warp, somewhat like the effect of a bowling ball placed on a rubber sheet.
According to this radical proposal, space is not merely a passive forum providing the arena for the events of the universe; rather, the shape of space responds to objects in the environment.This warping, in turn, affects other objects moving in the vicinity of the sun, as they now must traverse the distorted spatial fabric. Using the rubber membrane—bowling ball analogy, if we place a small ball-bearing on the membrane and set it off with some initial velocity, the path it will follow depends on whether or not the bowling ball is sitting in the center. If the bowling ball is absent, the rubber membrane will be flat and the ball bearing will travel along a straight line. If the bowling ball is present and thereby warps the membrane, the ball bearing will travel along a curved path. In fact, ignoring friction, if we set the ball bearing moving with just the right speed in just the right direction, it will continue to move in a recurring curved path around the bowling ball—in effect, it will "go into orbit." Our language presages the application of this analogy to gravity.
The sun, like the bowling ball, warps the fabric of space surrounding it, and the earth's motion, like that of the ball bearing, is determined by the shape of the warp. The earth, like the ball bearing, will move in orbit around the sun if its speed and orientation have suitable values. This effect on the motion of the earth is what we normally would refer to as the gravitational influence of the sun, and is illustrated in Figure 3.5. The difference, now, is that unlike Newton, Einstein has specified the mechanism by which gravity is transmitted: the warping of space. In Einstein's view, the gravitational tether holding the earth in orbit is not some mysterious instantaneous action of the sun; rather, it is the warping of the spatial fabric caused by the sun's presence.
Figure 3.5 The earth is kept in orbit around the sun because it rolls along a valley in the warped spatial fabric. In more precise language, it follows a "path of least resistance" in the distorted region around the sun.
This picture allows us to understand the two essential features of gravity in a new way. First, the more massive the bowling ball, the greater the distortion it causes in the rubber membrane; similarly, in Einstein's description of gravity the more massive an object is, the greater the distortion it causes in the surrounding space. This implies that the more massive an object, the greater the gravitational influence it can exert on other bodies, precisely in accord with our experiences. Second, just as the distortion of the rubber membrane due to the bowling ball gets smaller as one gets farther from it, the amount of spatial warping due to a massive body such as the sun decreases as one's distance from it increases. This, again, jibes with our understanding of gravity, whose influence becomes weaker as the distance between objects becomes larger.An important point to note is that the ball bearing itself warps the rubber membrane, although only slightly. Similarly, the earth, being a massive body in its own right, also warps the fabric of space, although far less than the sun. This is how, in the language of general relativity, the earth keeps the moon in orbit, and it is also how the earth keeps each of us bound to its surface. As a skydiver plunges earthward, he or she is sliding down a depression in the spatial fabric caused by the earth's mass. Moreover, each of us—like any massive object—also warps the spatial fabric in close proximity to our bodies, although the comparatively small mass of a human body makes this a minuscule indentation.
In summary then, Einstein fully agreed with Newton's statement that "Gravity must be caused by an agent" and rose to Newton's challenge in which the identity of the agent was left "to the consideration of my readers." The agent of gravity, according to Einstein, is the fabric of the cosmos.