Applied Physics and Materials Science

Theory of Relativity

Matter does not simply pull on other matter across empty space, as Newton had fancied. Rather matter garbles space-time and it is this garbled space-time that in turn impacts other matter. Objects (including planets, like the Earth, for instance) fly freely under their own inertia through space-time, following curved paths because this is the shortest possible path (or geodesic) in twisted space-time.