What is the Difference Between Einstein and Newton Gravity

The key difference between Einstein and Newton gravity is that Einstein described that gravity is a curvature in a 4-dimensional space-time fabric proportional to object masses, whereas Newton described gravity as a force expressed mutually between two objects in relation to their masses.

Einstein gravity and Newton gravity are very important concepts in physical chemistry describing the interactions between particles with masses.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Einstein Gravity
3. What is Newton Gravity
4. Einstein Gravity vs Newton Gravity in Tabular Form
6. Summary

What is Einstein Gravity?

Einstein gravity is described by the general relativity or general theory of relativity, which is a geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915. It is the current description of gravitation in modern physics. According to this theory, it generalizes special relativity and also refines Newton’s law of universal gravitation. Therefore, it provides a unified description of gravity involving the geometric property of space and time (4D spacetime).

Usually, some predictions of general relativity are different from those of classical physics significantly when considering the passage of time, the geometry of the space, the motion of free-falling objects, and the propagation of light. More importantly, these predictions of general relativity in relation to classical physics are confirmed in all observations and experiments that have been done until today. However, general relativity is the simplest theory that is consistent with experimental data, although it is not the only relativistic theory of gravity. There are many unanswered questions as well.

What is Newton Gravity?

Newton gravity states that every particle tends to attract every other particle in the universe with force. This force is directly proportional to the product of the masses of the two particles attracting each other. It is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the centers of these masses. We call the publication of this theory the first great unification because it marks the unification of the previous theory of gravity on Earth along with the known astronomical behaviors.

Newton’s law of universal gravitation is a general physical law that originated from empirical observations regarding the inductive reasoning introduced by Isaac Newton. This theory was introduced in 1687, and it is known as a part of classical mechanics.

According to the present observations, Newton’s gravity law states that every point mass tends to attract every other point mass through a force that is acting along the line intersecting these two points. Therefore, the mathematical expression for Newton gravity is as follows;

where F is the force between masses, G is the gravitational constant, m1 is the first mass, m2 is the second mass, and r is the distance between the centers of the masses.

What is the Difference Between Einstein and Newton Gravity?

Einstein gravity and Newton gravity are very important concepts in physical chemistry describing the interactions between particles with masses. The key difference between Einstein and Newton gravity is that Einstein gravity describes that gravity is a curvature in a 4-dimensional space-time fabric proportional to object masses, whereas Newton gravity describes gravity as a force expressed mutually between two objects in relation to their masses. Moreover, Einstein considered gravity as a push while Newton considered gravity as a pull.

The following table summarizes the difference between Einstein and Newton gravity.

Summary – Einstein Gravity vs Newton Gravity

Einstein gravity and Newton gravity are very important concepts in physical chemistry describing the interactions between particles with masses. The key difference between Einstein and Newton gravity is that Einstein gravity describes that gravity is a curvature in a 4-dimensional space-time fabric proportional to object masses, whereas Newton gravity describes gravity as a force expressed mutually between two objects in relation to their masses.

Reference:

1. Jones, Andrew Zimmerman. “Newton’s Law of Gravity.” ThoughtCo, Feb. 16, 2021.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Light cone” By Sakurambo – Own work (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia

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