gravity is slow time effect, tell me why I am wrong?

Question

I think that gravity is caused by a mass retarding the rate of time near it and that we experience this retardation of time effect as gravity.
Can anyone tell me a good reason why my thought on this could not be true?

Try this on for size. As the universe expands it is going from slower time (higher concentration of mass) to faster time (less concentration of mass) and any thing with mass has a time "inertia" that makes it have slightly slower rate of time than the surronding "vacuum" of space. Something like a black hole or a planet would have enough mass to have a significant amount of time inertia and therefore would have enough gravity to be noticed. Something as small as a pencil say, would still have the time inertia, but it wouldn't be as obvious. Perhaps this is the mechanism whereby time is slowed near a large mass and gravity thereby arises. Any thoughts?

Answer 1

You guys are way to smart for me but it seems after reading your posts that all the variables while different in substance are mutually dependent on each other for existence, time being a receptacle or carrying case for the other events. If there were no time there would be no other event. I'm gettin a headache - I'm goin back and mess with the teenagers for a while - until I'm not so dizzy.

Answer 2

You're essentially correct. The rate at which a clock at a distance r from a gravitational mass M registers time (proper time T) is approximately:

dT/dt = (1 - (1/c^2)GM/r)

This is in a coordinate system (t) in which the gravitational field is static. In this sense clocks slow down (speed up) as they move lower (higher) in a gravitational field.

Contrary to what shakes378 seems to be saying, this time dilation even though barely measurable directly, is well understood to be the basis of Newtonian gravity.

For an object moving in a gravitational field, the law of motion simply says that the path followed between two fixed points in spacetime is the one for which the elapsed proper time is an extremum (minimum or more typically a maximum). This is analagous to the least time principle in optics and holds for a similar reason. In classical mechanics it's called the least action principle (action = -proper time + Constant).

So anything that effects the elapsed proper time of a moving object has a material effect on its dynamics. Gravitational time dilation contributes the term:

(1/c^2)(GM/r) = -V/(mc^2)

and leads directly to the usual inverse square force associated with the potential V=-GMm/r.

Answer 3

That's a pretty thought provoking question. You seem to be throwing a twist on Einstien's theory where as you aproach the speed of light, time slows down for you at the same time your mass increases.

Gravity is caused by mass attracting other mass. Time is relative to the observer and not a universal constant. Dang it...I can't tell you that your thoughts are wrong because now that I'm thinking about it, I think you may be right. I guess I flunk this question lol

Answer 4

Mass does slow time. Remember all that stuff about the fabric of the universe and how the fabric of space is warped by massive objects? Well that warping of what is known as spacetime actually causes time to slow down closer to massive objects. Although, it is very slight.

The fact that gravity is, infact the slowing of time is not wholly correct. Gravity is an attractive force, slowing down the passage of time around an object won't cause something a distance away to be attracted to it.

ie. slowing time around the earth wont keep the moon in orbit.

Answer 5

if you drop a object within the field of gravity of an object with a higher mass, the object will accelerate untill it hits the higher mass object, then it may stop depending on the other forces acting on the objects, so the faster something moves the slower time acts on that object, so does that mean the when it stops, if it stops, time accelerates for that object. I think gravity may act on time due to the mass of an object, but gravity is not caused because of time slowing due to mass of an object.

Answer 6

so you think that a mass impacts something that is (more or less) only measured and percieved by humans? mass exists...but time, concievably, could not exist. I dont know if I could tell you your not right but i wonder what physics would be like if time were non-existant.

Answer 7

Archangel: I think Time and Motion are
inseparable. All time is forward. All motion
is forward.

I may be wrong, but not far from it.

Answer 8

Because time is completely independent of all other forces.

Answer 9

Because a girl levitated