Why does a ball fall?: A new visualization for Einstein's model of gravity

Abstract

Many physics teachers seek a simple illustration of Einstein's model of gravity, suitable for the introductory physics classroom. In this article, we show that an ordinary wall map of the world can be used to contrast Newton's and Einstein's explanations for why a ball falls when released. Trajectories on the map are analogous to the trajectories of the ball through spacetime, because the geometry of the map is remarkably similar to the geometry of spacetime near Earth's surface. To aid in the pedagogy, we focus on the concept of scale rather than curvature. We show that, contrary to popular visualizations of Einstein's model, it is primarily the warping of time, not space, that causes a ball to fall, and we address the question of why we do not see the distortion of spacetime around us. Finally, we recover Newton's results for the falling ball from our geometrical treatment.