Is Einstein's Gravity Theory Historically Accurate?

[Nickelodeon]

Just wondered if the following extract is historically correct ...


Einstein's and now main stream's current gravity theory is based on the belief that if you were accelerating in a spacecraft you wouldn't be able to distinguish between this experience and that of gravity. It was then decided that acceleration and gravity were the same. The next challenge was to explain how we could be accelerating upwards with 1g without apparently moving and even more of a challenge to explain why two masses tend to move together.
For acceleration, you need a spatial component and a time component hence the evolution of the idea of 'spacetime', a bundling of these two dependent dimensions together. Gravity is explained as a natural property of matter which has the ability to warp or distort this 'spacetime'. The passage of time varies the closer you get to a gravity source and the geometry of the spatial component changes whereby our idea of a straight line becomes more and more curved.


Is this ok?

 

[Naty1]

Einstein's and now main stream's current gravity theory is based on the belief that if you were accelerating in a spacecraft you wouldn't be able to distinguish between this experience and that of gravity. It was then decided that acceleration and gravity were the same.

Yes, at least as far as I have quoted...The above seems to match what I have read in various accounts...You can read Einstein's own version in RELATIVITY, at http://www.bartleby.com/173/

One of the difficulties is that likely Einstein's own descriptions and certainly that of many of the scientists of his time almost certainy varied as the features of relativity were unraveled and understanding improved.

You can also investate further via researching the "equivalence principle"...here is one version...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivalence_principle

 

[Nickelodeon]

Yes, at least as far as I have quoted...The above seems to match what I have read in various accounts...You can read Einstein's own version in RELATIVITY, at http://www.bartleby.com/173/

Thanks for that great link. It's good to get it straight from the horses mouth rather than by chinese whispers.

 

[v2kkim]

Book recommendations ? ... I know some pieces of general relativity and I can accept them. But I want to try to understand the formula. As an amature but with some math background, I like to have books with exact equations and example solved problems. Can anyone like to recommend books ?