Apparent Acceleration in Free-Fall

Objects in free-fall really do not accelerate, but rather the closer they get to an object such as the Earth, the more the time scale becomes stretched due to spacetime distortion around the object (this is gravity). An object in free-fall is in actuality inertial, but as it approaches the object the time scale streches at an accelerated rate, giving the appearance that it is accelerating towards the planetary object when, in fact, the falling body really isn't accelerating at all. This is why an accelerometer in free-fall doesn't register any acceleration. There isn't any.

[abaris]

John Adams

Objects in free-fall really do not accelerate, but rather the closer they get to an object such as the Earth, the more the time scale becomes stretched due to spacetime distortion around the object (this is gravity). An object in free-fall is in actuality inertial, but as it approaches the object the time scale streches at an accelerated rate, giving the appearance that it is accelerating towards the planetary object when, in fact, the falling body really isn't accelerating at all. This is why an accelerometer in free-fall doesn't register any acceleration. There isn't any.

Lets drop a watermelon from a skyscraper. I predict that it will hit the pavement at a certain velocity that depends on the height of the skyscraper and the aerodynamics of the melon. Without getting deeper into melon aerodynamics I predict that the velocity acquired by the melon in free fall will suffice to splatter its deliciousness across the pavement. The extend of the splatter being proportional to the velocity of the melon and thus evidence for the fact that the melon did acquire velocity and therefore must have undergone acceleration.

[schrodinger]

Originally Posted by John Adams

Objects in free-fall really do not accelerate, but rather the closer they get to an object such as the Earth, the more the time scale becomes stretched due to spacetime distortion around the object (this is gravity). An object in free-fall is in actuality inertial, but as it approaches the object the time scale streches at an accelerated rate, giving the appearance that it is accelerating towards the planetary object when, in fact, the falling body really isn't accelerating at all. This is why an accelerometer in free-fall doesn't register any acceleration. There isn't any.

When taking a direct quote from any source, it is customary to say waht that source is. In this case, you have quoted from Wikipedia, on an article about the equivalence principle.

The quote is correct, but should only be used in the context of General Relativity. When examining basic Newtonian mechanics, it is much more practical to think of gravity as a force which splatters watermelons than to think of watermelons travelling along geodesics of spacetime and being intercepted by the material resistance of the earth, which also splatters watermelons.

But thanks anyway for bringing up an interesting point!