Ever since I learned about it, I have been puzzled by Einstein's realization that inertial and gravitational mass are the same. If they are in fact the same, then we are standing on the surface of the earth, our weight is simply our body's resistance to acceleration. It is not, as we are taught in grade school, the result of a force attracting us to the center of the earth, because a falling body has no weight.

So all evidence seems to point to the fact that we are being "pushed" toward outerspace by.... by what?

" So do you feel your pressured from all sides, or pulled from one? "

Do you think it's possible we are being pressured from one side - the in-side? Imagine two baloons being inflated close to each other. They can't tell they're being inflated because their relative sizes remain unchanged; the only thing they can observe is that the space between them is getting smaller, until their surfaces eventually touch (provided they don't burst). And after they are in contact, one baloon feels the other's internal pressure exactly the same way we feel earth's gravity!

Could it be there's more to that than just a coincidence?

• Gravity vs acceleration - jetty - April 8, 2003 - 20:37 UTC
  • So... - aurino_c_souza - April 8, 2003 - 20:41 UTC
    • ay, there's the rub - jetty - April 8, 2003 - 21:10 UTC
      • Oh, but they can be proven! - duordi - April 9, 2003 - 00:16 UTC
        • Predictions are not necessarily proof - jetty - April 9, 2003 - 04:39 UTC
          • I thought, I thought, a thought experiment. - duordi - April 9, 2003 - 19:37 UTC
            • Assumptions about electromagnetic radiation - jetty - April 10, 2003 - 14:40 UTC
              • Please define "action at a distance". - duordi - April 11, 2003 - 03:14 UTC
                • Action at a distance - jetty - April 23, 2003 - 20:41 UTC
                  • Instantaniously? - duordi - April 24, 2003 - 00:23 UTC
                    • Opposing hypotheses - jetty - April 24, 2003 - 06:16 UTC
                      • The velocity of gravity has been measured. - duordi - April 24, 2003 - 16:49 UTC
                        • Gravitational displacement - jetty - April 26, 2003 - 05:37 UTC
                          • The infinite gravity velocity game. - duordi - April 26, 2003 - 18:58 UTC
      • Thought experiments can be checked with logic - aurino_c_souza - April 9, 2003 - 13:05 UTC
        • The speed of Murray (t.e.) - jetty - April 9, 2003 - 16:01 UTC
    • the curvature of space-time - sagefr0g - April 14, 2003 - 01:13 UTC
  • the equivalency principle - sagefr0g - April 13, 2003 - 23:58 UTC
    • Distinguishability - jetty - April 14, 2003 - 04:31 UTC
      • measurement of force vector - sagefr0g - April 14, 2003 - 09:36 UTC
        • Foci of forces - jetty - April 14, 2003 - 19:42 UTC
          • center of gravity is an ambiguous term - sagefr0g - April 16, 2003 - 04:39 UTC
            • Gravity unambiguous - jetty - April 16, 2003 - 20:08 UTC
              • a plumb bob.... heh heh - sagefr0g - April 17, 2003 - 03:41 UTC
                • It’s a magic plumb bob. - duordi - April 17, 2003 - 17:00 UTC
                  • Universal gravity - jetty - April 17, 2003 - 22:28 UTC
                    • So gravity is not quantumized like other waves? - duordi - April 21, 2003 - 03:47 UTC
                      • Eternity - jetty - April 21, 2003 - 22:27 UTC
                        • Smaller is not simpler. - duordi - April 23, 2003 - 01:22 UTC
                          • Infinite and eternal - jetty - April 23, 2003 - 12:18 UTC
                            • Interesting... - duordi - April 23, 2003 - 22:28 UTC
                              • Doubt - jetty - April 24, 2003 - 06:19 UTC
                                • Good approach - duordi - April 24, 2003 - 17:10 UTC
                                  • Einstein - jetty - April 26, 2003 - 05:41 UTC
                                    • Having a theory which matches known data is not a sin. - duordi - April 26, 2003 - 19:30 UTC
                        • eternity still possible with black holes - sagefr0g - April 26, 2003 - 14:49 UTC
                          • The unwritten assumption. - duordi - April 26, 2003 - 20:59 UTC
                      • Quantized but not discrete - jetty - April 21, 2003 - 22:38 UTC
                        • Does mass have an undividable particle? - duordi - April 23, 2003 - 01:31 UTC
                          • considering the particle "zoo" - sagefr0g - April 23, 2003 - 09:51 UTC
                            • How about a mind bender. - duordi - April 23, 2003 - 23:12 UTC
                              • thats not only a mind bender - sagefr0g - April 24, 2003 - 22:16 UTC
                          • Electron and positron - jetty - April 23, 2003 - 12:23 UTC
                            • Are you saying gravity has no indivisible unit while mass does? - duordi - April 23, 2003 - 23:38 UTC
                              • Coexistent - jetty - April 24, 2003 - 06:24 UTC
                                • Do your ideas include any massless particles? - duordi - April 24, 2003 - 22:57 UTC
                                  • No massless matter - jetty - April 26, 2003 - 05:45 UTC
                • Sophisticated machinery - jetty - April 17, 2003 - 22:25 UTC
                  • sophisticated machinery is fine - sagefr0g - April 21, 2003 - 01:34 UTC
                    • You have a point - jetty - April 21, 2003 - 03:00 UTC
                      • and you have a point also - sagefr0g - April 22, 2003 - 02:15 UTC
                        • Other points - jetty - April 23, 2003 - 12:26 UTC
                          • alternative views.... hmm - sagefr0g - April 24, 2003 - 02:31 UTC
                            • Heaver objects do fall faster. - duordi - April 24, 2003 - 03:45 UTC
                              • perhaps in a universe with only two objects - sagefr0g - April 24, 2003 - 15:40 UTC
                                • Other objects pull both ways. - duordi - April 24, 2003 - 17:30 UTC
                                  • those other massive objects "out there" - sagefr0g - April 24, 2003 - 19:44 UTC
                                    • Inertia is the attraction of a mass to its own gravity field. - duordi - April 24, 2003 - 22:49 UTC
                                      • basketballs do not fall consistently - sagefr0g - April 25, 2003 - 03:52 UTC
                                  • my bad - sagefr0g - April 25, 2003 - 02:32 UTC
                                  • still digging at your equation... - sagefr0g - April 25, 2003 - 18:31 UTC
                                    • I think I have a solution you will like. - duordi - April 25, 2003 - 20:49 UTC
                                      • another wrinkle is that - sagefr0g - April 27, 2003 - 14:20 UTC
                                        • You lost me on that one. - duordi - April 27, 2003 - 20:19 UTC
                                          • drop a basketball from height X - sagefr0g - April 28, 2003 - 01:18 UTC
                                            • So your saying.... - duordi - April 29, 2003 - 01:53 UTC
                                              • uhmm - sagefr0g - April 30, 2003 - 22:15 UTC
      • Concentric vectors - aurino_c_souza - April 14, 2003 - 14:08 UTC
        • Independent forces - jetty - April 14, 2003 - 19:45 UTC
          • Perhaps, but still... - aurino_c_souza - April 15, 2003 - 12:50 UTC
        • floor of elevator as gravitational source - sagefr0g - April 17, 2003 - 14:15 UTC
      • Well stated - duordi - April 15, 2003 - 00:29 UTC
        • Infinite gravity source? - jetty - April 15, 2003 - 04:15 UTC
          • Infinite gravity source - jetty - April 15, 2003 - 10:33 UTC
            • The total universe mass fits that discription. - duordi - April 15, 2003 - 22:34 UTC
              • What description? - jetty - April 16, 2003 - 02:36 UTC
                • My error - jetty - April 16, 2003 - 13:52 UTC
                  • Wrong universe - duordi - April 16, 2003 - 21:41 UTC
      • Another difference between gravity and inertia. - duordi - April 17, 2003 - 17:14 UTC
        • Good point - jetty - April 17, 2003 - 22:32 UTC
          • A dizzy question? - duordi - April 18, 2003 - 03:42 UTC
            • No outward force - jetty - April 19, 2003 - 05:09 UTC
• Just for the fun of it. - duordi - April 10, 2003 - 01:46 UTC
• Oops - Just for the fun of it - duordi - April 10, 2003 - 01:50 UTC
  • Good point! - aurino_c_souza - April 10, 2003 - 13:58 UTC
    • A definition of inertia. - duordi - April 11, 2003 - 02:48 UTC
      • Inertia and gravity - aurino_c_souza - April 11, 2003 - 13:35 UTC
        • Ghost Gravity - at intended post location - duordi - April 13, 2003 - 17:17 UTC
          • Interesting idea - aurino_c_souza - April 14, 2003 - 13:54 UTC
            • Why are faster then light speeds needed? - duordi - April 15, 2003 - 00:13 UTC
              • So that you can "catch up with yourself" - aurino_c_souza - April 15, 2003 - 13:10 UTC
                • Sub light speeds are fine. - duordi - April 15, 2003 - 23:24 UTC
                  • It's not right. It's not even wrong! - aurino_c_souza - April 16, 2003 - 12:53 UTC
        • weight - sagefr0g - April 14, 2003 - 00:27 UTC
          • So what is weight really? - aurino_c_souza - April 14, 2003 - 13:07 UTC
            • weight = kmg - sagefr0g - April 16, 2003 - 04:08 UTC
              • Weight = inertia - aurino_c_souza - April 16, 2003 - 13:10 UTC
                • a free falling body - sagefr0g - April 17, 2003 - 04:02 UTC
      • Ghost Gravity - duordi - April 12, 2003 - 15:31 UTC
  • Oops - "Good Point?" - Maybe not! - aurino_c_souza - April 14, 2003 - 13:30 UTC
    • Take your time this isn't a race. - duordi - April 15, 2003 - 01:03 UTC
      • I gave up already - aurino_c_souza - April 15, 2003 - 12:57 UTC