Gravity warps spacetime from "summary" of The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene
Imagine the universe as a vast expanse of fabric, with planets, stars, and galaxies resting on its surface. This fabric represents spacetime, the very stage on which all of the cosmic drama unfolds. Now, introduce an object with mass, say a planet, into this fabric. According to the theory of general relativity, developed by Albert Einstein, this planet doesn't just passively sit on the fabric of spacetime – it interacts with it in a profound way. The presence of mass causes spacetime to curve around the planet, much like a heavy ball placed on a rubber sheet would cause the sheet to warp around it. This warping effect is what we experience as gravity. It's not that the planet is reaching out and pulling on other objects in space; rather, it's the curvature of spacetime around the planet that dictates how objects move in its vicinity. In essence, gravity is not a force in the traditional sense, like electromagnetism or the nuclear forces. Instead, it is a manifestation of ...
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