The See saw effect.

Gravity, gravitation, gravitation, gravity. I've never understood why you insist on gravitation but no gravity.

For every thing you say? In a scientific debate, even the glaringly obvious requires not merely an internet source, but a hard, verified, published paper, like the kind you might find on Google Scholar. With me? Is this really where we want to head this forum to?

Because they are different.  Very different.  They are not interchangeable.

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Because they are different.  Very different.  They are not interchangeable.

I'm aware of that. It's the fact you use them the wrong way around that puzzles me.

Have I?  Please show me these errors so that I may correct them.

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Have I?  Please show me these errors so that I may correct them.

From what I know, gravity is used to refer to a force that a large object has. Examples would be the apparent Gravity of the moon on bodies of water on this planet, and the apparent gravity of planets on their moons. Gravitation refers to the theory that explains why the force happens.

Major Fail.

Gravity is a concept term. Gravitation is a phenomenon.

...In scientific usage gravitation and gravity are distinct. "Gravitation" is the overall theory dealing with the attractive influence that all objects exert on each other, while "gravity" specifically refers to a force produced by a massive object (i.e., an object with mass).

Major Fail.

Gravity is a concept term. Gravitation is a phenomenon.

^^Erm...not really.

Quote from: Wikipedia

...In scientific usage gravitation and gravity are distinct. "Gravitation" is the overall theory dealing with the attractive influence that all objects exert on each other, while "gravity" specifically refers to a force produced by a massive object (i.e., an object with mass).

You sadly, erm...fail. I wouldn't have said so if you weren't rude to the person above you, but since you did... You fail.

Gravitation is a natural phenomenon and one of the fundamental forces by which all objects with mass attract each other.

I can't say I've ever seen a site or book that suggests gravity as the concept and gravitation as the force...

Gravitation is the force of attraction that acts between all objects because of their mass.

Could you point out a reference? There seems to be a fair number of sites out there that need your guidance.

Another term for gravitation is the force of gravity.

There is no contradiction in the two statements. You still fail.

Why can't gravitation be a natural phenomenon and a theory?

NASA is clearly using the casual definitions there

But, since major articles love to dumb down their viewers, and since the viewers most likely never taken GR, they depict gravitation as a force:

Quote from: Your Reference

Another term for gravitation is the force of gravity.

Still fail.

It's not strictly a theory, read on.

It's the idea behind the attraction between massive objects.

There you go. You finally understand gravitation is not a theory.

Mars and Earth have a gravitational attraction to each other, but if you were on Mars, you would refer to yourself as kept down on Mars by gravity.

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Have I?  Please show me these errors so that I may correct them.

From what I know, gravity is used to refer to a force that a large object has. Examples would be the apparent Gravity of the moon on bodies of water on this planet, and the apparent gravity of planets on their moons. Gravitation refers to the theory that explains why the force happens.

There does seem to a lot of usage of the word gravitation to describe gravity, but that may just be due to it's casual use. The NASA world book seems to be aimed more at casual visitors rather than people who require the scientific usage.

Also, your reference seems a little...suspect. If I sent a E-mail to a webmaster saying 'your sites incorrect because someone on theflatearthsoiety.com said "Gravitation = phenomenon.".', I doubt they would take me seriously.

Now, please show me my misuse of these terms.  Thank you.

Which is why I said major articles always dumb down their viewers.

Unless they never heard of gravitation.

In scientific usage gravitation and gravity are distinct. "Gravitation" is the overall theory dealing with the attractive influence that all objects exert on each other, while "gravity" specifically refers to a force produced by a massive object (i.e., an object with mass). The terms are mostly interchangeable in everyday use. In general relativity, gravitation is due to spacetime curvatures which causes inertially moving objects to tend to accelerate towards each other.

, the effects of gravitation are ascribed to spacetime curvature instead of a force. The starting point for general relativity is the equivalence principle, which equates free fall with inertial motion. The issue that this creates is that free-falling objects can accelerate with respect to each other. In Newtonian physics, no such acceleration can occur unless at least one of the objects is being operated on by a force (and therefore is not moving inertially).

To deal with this difficulty, Einstein proposed that spacetime is curved by matter, and that free-falling objects are moving along locally straight paths in curved spacetime. (This type of path is called a geodesic.) More specifically, Einstein discovered the field equations of general relativity, which relate the presence of matter and the curvature of spacetime and are named after him. The Einstein field equations are a set of 10 simultaneous, non-linear, differential equations. The solutions of the field equations are the components of the metric tensor of spacetime. A metric tensor describes a geometry of spacetime. The geodesic paths for a spacetime are calculated from the metric tensor.

All fictitious forces are proportional to the mass of the object upon which they act, which is also true for gravity. This led Albert Einstein to wonder whether gravity was a fictitious force as well. He noted that a freefalling observer in a closed box would not be able to detect the force of gravity; hence, freefalling reference frames are equivalent to an inertial reference frame (the equivalence principle). Following up on this insight, Einstein was able to show (after ~9 years of work) that gravity is indeed a fictitious force; the apparent acceleration is actually inertial motion in curved spacetime. This is the essential physics of Einstein's theory of general relativity.

Question:  According to Einstein, is gravity a force?
Does gravity always behave like a force?
Is gravity really a force?
If so, why isn't there any "antigravity" in the Universe?
janet l rust

Answer:  According to Einstein's' theory, gravity is not a force.
Every form of energy/mass is a source of gravitational field which appears as
the curvature of space-time. Particles move in straight lines in these curved
space-times. These straight lines of curved space-time need not be straight in
flat space we're used to and think in. For example, Earth's orbit around sun is  a 'straight line' !!
Jasjeet ( jasjeet s bagla )

Really?  Wiki seems to say this:

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In scientific usage gravitation and gravity are distinct. "Gravitation" is the overall theory dealing with the attractive influence that all objects exert on each other, while "gravity" specifically refers to a force produced by a massive object (i.e., an object with mass). The terms are mostly interchangeable in everyday use. In general relativity, gravitation is due to spacetime curvatures which causes inertially moving objects to tend to accelerate towards each other.

They are not the same thing.  Use the right terms.