Quote: gravity does not use lines of force; it acts in straight lines independent of third bodies and time; can't be isolated

Quotation

When two bodies ... gravitate towards each other, the line in which they act is a straight line, for such is the line which either would follow if free to move. The attractive force is not altered, either in direction or amount, if a third body is made to act by gravitation or otherwise upon either or both of the two first. ... [p. 439] We have no evidence that time enters in any way into the exercise of this power, whatever the distance between the acting bodies, as that from the sun to the earth, or from star to star. We can hardly conceive of this force in one particle by itself; it is when two or more are present that we comprehend it ... In the case of gravitation, no effect which sustains the idea of an independent or physical line of force is presented to us; and as far as we at present know, the line of gravitation is merely an ideal line representing the direction in which the power is exerted.   Google-1   Google-2

Published before 1923

Related Topics

Topic: general relativity (47 items)