DEFinning

That seems like taking a very long running start. Initially, I'm just asking, in terms of thinking about an object being, "affected by gravity," in pre-GR terms (though I bet, in practice, physicists still say this) how is there a difference in thinking of it as actually being affected by the curvature of space, in practical terms?

All right, that's very helpful to learn. I knew that Einstein, "proved" his theory through an astronomer's seeing light from a star going around some other body, but I didn't know that was the problem he was trying to solve. I had, also, wondered if there could be some possible explanation for this, "proof," based on some as yet unknown quality of light, that made it act similarly to the way it bends when a person views it through water to take the shortest route (the effect that makes a pole under water in a pool look off kilter from what you'd expect from the part that's above water-- do you know what I'm talking about?). But you say there now IS an alternate proposed explanation! Do you think that either it is, or I am, too dense for you to explain it?

So then, with his, "curvature," theory, Einstein didn't explain anything, initially, that wasn't already known. Okay.I'm ready & w/ you. The alliteration was too much of a temptation-- & now I'm rhyming-- in the title. My orig. title was very close to what you say is my actual question (Is Gravity REAL?) but I thought I'd get more notices if I added a little, "sizzle."

Okay, I'm ready & w/ you. The alliteration was too much of a temptation-- & now I'm rhyming-- in the title. My orig. title was very close to what you say is my actual question (Is Gravity REAL?) but I thought I'd get more notices if I added a little, "sizzle."

Let me first stress that I do not have a physical science background. This does not prevent me, however, from being at least competent at logical thinking. I was impressed w/ how willing the people here w/ advanced understanding were to explain things to lay-people. Hence, my question. As I understand it, Einstein explains the puzzle of why things of different mass fall to the ground at the same speed (Galileo's experiment) being because they are following the same space-time curvature created by the planet (let's use Earth, in this example). In that case, would not, "gravity," only be our perception of that curvature, not an actual force? Alternately, if it is a force that is generated by the degree of curvature, doesn't that bring us back to the original question of why it has an identical effect on bodies of vastly different mass?