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If gravity is caused from the bend in space time from a large mass, why do all objects fall towards earths center and not strait down to below earth? Sorry i am not an expert in any fields just trying to understand and study relativity, also i'm fairly new to the whole bending of space and time and do not truly understand how it works. Any help would be appreciated, thanks ahead of time.

Not everyone understood my question so, Picture earth bending space time right, and gravity pulls the objects to the center of the planet, why don't objects when falling pull to the space warp instead of the earth center? How is it that at the bottom of the earth objects fall upwards toward earth and not down to the space warp? I guess what i don't fully understand is wether gravity is created by the space warp or by Earth itself and the space warp is a result from the earths gravity. – C.Julch

C.Julch
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    "why do all objects fall towards earths center and not strait down to below earth?" What's the difference? – lemon Jun 08 '16 at 13:41
  • Related: http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/3009/2451 , http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/243317/2451 , http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/102910/2451 and links therein. – Qmechanic Jun 08 '16 at 13:42
  • Gravity is caused by mass-energy. The curvature we are assigning to spacetime is merely one kind of description for how gravity acts. – CuriousOne Jun 08 '16 at 13:53
  • I don't think you understand what i mean. Picture earth bending space time right, and gravity pulls the objects to the center of the planet, why don't objects when falling pull to the space warp instead of the earth center? How is it that at the bottom of the earth objects fall upwards toward earth and not down to the space warp? I guess what i don't fully understand is wether gravity is created by the space warp or by Earth itself and the space warp is a result from the earths gravity. – C.Julch – C.Julch Jun 08 '16 at 14:08
  • But like i said i am fairly new to all of this and don't quite understand most of it as of now so don't crap on me for saying things wrong a simple correction would be nice thanks. – C.Julch Jun 08 '16 at 14:17
  • "The bottom of the earth"??? – WillO Jun 08 '16 at 14:24
  • I have been looking at a two dimensional image of the curvature in space time and was referencing the part of the earth that is closest to the curve in space time on the 2 dimensional image, and was just introduced to the three dimensional one and now understand how my question may not make sense sorry for the misunderstood question. WillO – C.Julch Jun 08 '16 at 14:51

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To answer your question about falling objects to the center instead of straigt think about the following:

If you think about the Earth as a whole (rather than just the part you can see around you) and think about how two objects dropped from a height on opposite sides of the planet would behave, then you may be better able to understand the quote.

In the case of these two objects, dropped on opposites sides of the Earth, they would each move toward the center of the Earth, and therefore towards one another.

Similarly, an object dropped in Europe would move at an angle to one dropped in North America, since both are headed toward the center of the Earth.

Essentially, every dropped object is moving toward the center of the big sphere we live on, and any two of them are going move at an angle to one another as they fall - and the farther apart they are, the easier it will be to see that angle.

https://www.quora.com/Naturalists-what-do-you-understand-by-this-heavy-bodies-moving-towards-the-earth-do-not-parallel-but-so-as-to-make-equal-angles

Marijn
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  • I don't think you understand what i mean. Picture earth bending space time right, and gravity pulls the objects to the center of the planet, why don't objects when falling pull to the space warp instead of the earth center? How is it that at the bottom of the earth objects fall upwards toward earth and not down to the space warp? I guess what i don't fully understand is wether gravity is created by the space warp or by Earth itself and the space warp is a result from the earths gravity. – C.Julch Jun 08 '16 at 14:06
  • Also i understand what you stated above, i think that would explain why the earth is round or at least gives off the round appearance. – C.Julch Jun 08 '16 at 14:12
  • I think its good to know that actionally gravity is an old concept for what nowadays (according to GR) is meant with curved spacetime. And both are caused by a mass (the earth). – Marijn Jun 08 '16 at 14:17
  • Ah ok i get it, that makes more sense in a different perspective, I just realized above from a different answer that i was looking at this in a 2 dimensional view and that obviously doesn't help me at all. This helps allot when connecting the dots. Thanks. – C.Julch Jun 08 '16 at 14:56
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The problem is that the images that you have seen about spacetime bending depict a two dimensional 'fabric'. Try picturing it in three dimensions and it would be easier to understand.

If you are still not able to visualise then see: https://www.dropbox.com/s/h6h5pfe37stxdrv/Photo%2002-06-16%2C%2022%2028%2003.jpg?dl=0

Bharath Radhakrishnan
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    Wow Thanks! that helped me visualize it in a way i can understand. Except it didn't answer my other question about whether gravity is created through the warping of space time or if earths gravity is whats warping space. This is the one thing that will answer the whole question in general because yes i have visualized it but i am now seeing it work in two ways. – C.Julch Jun 08 '16 at 14:33
  • @C.Julch Sorry, didn't notice that part of your question. Gravity is caused due to the curvature of spacetime and not the other way around. – Bharath Radhakrishnan Jun 08 '16 at 14:50
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    Thank you for answering my questions without criticizing my every word, i appreciate it. You have helped me understand what i was asking in the simplest way, i wish there was more people like you. Again thank you. – C.Julch Jun 08 '16 at 14:54