“In a closed laboratory, no experiment can be performed that
will distinguish between the effects of a gravitational field and the effects
due to an acceleration with respect to some inertial reference frame.” Albert
Einstein
Equivalence freed Einstein from having to continue
pondering. He was aware that if he multiplied space and time to produce space
time he could produce the characteristics of gravity. Graphically this
multiplication resulted in curvature so he visualized the graphic curvature of
space over time as the cause of gravity.
He felt that even if it was not precisely accurate, at the least
equivalence gave credibility to the notion that gravity was inertia and it
allowed him to continue with general relativity using space time curvature as
an explanation.
“The possibility of
explaining the numerical equality of inertia and gravitation by the unity of
their nature gives to the general theory of relativity, according to my
conviction, such superiority over the conceptions of classical mechanics that
all the difficulties encountered must be considered as small in comparison with
this progress” (Einstein, Meaning of
Relativity, p. 58).
But Einstein may have abandoned the prospect of the planet
diameter increasing by acceleration too early. Had he looked deeply into the
phenomenon of observer invariance he might have found an excellent reason for
observers not being able to see or measure diameter increase.
"The Universal Properties of Acceleration" explain how and why the accelerated inflation of all particle matter creates the phenomenon we call gravity and at the same time, how participation of the observer as an integral member of the accelerating frame creates the phenomenon of observer invariance that makes this accelerated inflation both invisible and immeasurable to the member as well as to all other participating members. [Barry Lebost]
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