In general relativity, the equivalence principle is the equivalence of gravitational and inertial mass, along with the observation that the gravitational "force" experienced on a massive body is the same as the pseudo-force experienced by an observer in a non-inertial (accelerated) frame of reference.
Questions tagged [equivalence-principle]
568 questions
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Einstein's explanation of the Equivalence Principle
At the top of the Wikipedia page on the Equivalence Principle is this quote attributed to Einstein:
A little reflection will show that the law of the equality of the inertial and gravitational mass is equivalent to the assertion that the…
Paul Mariz
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Einstein's blackboard help
I'd be grateful if someone could point me in the right direction as to what's on the blackboard here. What am I looking at? I appreciate there's lots there but can anyone help? Particularly the 4 small boxes lower right. Apologies for wrong tag.…
Tom Black
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Does the Equivalence Principal account for inverse square law?
I realize this must have been considered but please explain what I am missing. My understanding is that the Equivalence Principal states essentially that someone in a closed cabin accelerating at 9.8 m/s can't tell whether he is in a gravitational…
Jeff
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Validity of source reconstruction method for a partial measurements
Is it possible to extract equivalent current sources from the partial measurements? I am specifically thinking of a scenario where we have a radiating source inside a closed surface and we measured radiated fields from that source. In principle,…
Muhammad
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Light deflection due to acceleration vs due to constant velocity
In an intro level college physics class, we were taught about the thought experiment showing how light would be bent in an accelerating reference frame (see this YouTube video for a visual), and by the principle of equivalence, gravity bends light…
Srihari P
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Was there an "Equivalence principle" for the energy of the different systems?
The Equivalence principle was the formalism to the assumption of the "the equivalence of gravitational and inertial mass".
However, was there an "Equivalence principle" for the energy of the different systems, i.e. the mechanical…
ShoutOutAndCalculate
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Does a vertical light beam violate Einstein's equivelance principle?
Imagine the classic Elevator thought experiement. Einstein said there's no physical experiement that shows the difference between gravity and upwards acceleration.
What if we casted a light beam from the roof of the elevator to the floor? In the…
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Falling bodies in an accelerated elevator
If a sealed elevator were subjected to a massive acceleration in interstellar space and two weights were dropped from ceiling to floor,
as far apart as possible on opposite sides of the elevator, their paths from ceiling to floor would be…
Michael Walsby
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Equivalence Principle: from falling bodies to all physical processes
Einstein's elevator thought experiment considered that in the Minkowski space-time of special relativity, all bodies fall identically.
What grounds did Einstein have to generalise this falling bodies observation to all physical processes to conclude…
Maths
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Electron and gravity- equivalence principle
According to equivalence principle, we cannot distinguish gravity with inertial force. Let's assume that there is space shuttle which contain observer and electron. There is some force that is gravity or inertial force that we cannot distinguish.…
ABC
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Is a force acting on a freely falling body?
Albert Einstein in his equivalence principle stated that a freely falling body does not experience force, but if I let a ball free fall its velocity increases periodically (it accelerates). How is this possible without a force being involved?
Shashwat
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