Just wondering how one could visualise a curvature in spacetime. If anyone has a site, image or video showing this it would be appreciated.
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How about this? Then again... – J.G. Feb 06 '20 at 20:02
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Does this answer your question? Naive visualization of space-time curvature – Semoi Feb 06 '20 at 20:05
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In general, it takes 20 different numbers at every point of 4D spacetime to completely describe its curvature! This is impossible to visualize. You can only hope to visualize some of the simplest cases that have a lot of symmetry. – G. Smith Feb 06 '20 at 22:33
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On second thought... My suggestion is to just visualize a right triangle, floating in space, whose sides have lengths 3, 4, and 4.9. Bingo, the space can’t be flat. – G. Smith Feb 06 '20 at 22:38
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Those links are only sketches. For the mathematically correct visualization of the curvature see Flamm's paraboloid, http://flamm.yukterez.net – Yukterez Feb 07 '20 at 20:01
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While many have used the image of a bowling ball on a trampoline as a way to visualize spacetime curvature, I prefer to think more along the lines of a low pressure system on a weather map, with the planet/star at the centre of the low. And just like a bedsheet hanging on a clothes line is sucked into the middle of the low pressure system, objects passing by a planet are sucked into the gravitational low. The circular nature of a weather low pressure system matches exactly with the circular nature of frame dragging in spacetime.
foolishmuse
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