Considering the equivalence of gravity and inertia for just a second ... 1) Maybe while in free fall, you're not really falling. 2) Maybe you're floating and there's no gravity at all. 3) Maybe when you look down and see the Earth rushing up at you, it is literally expanding beneath you like a balloon, at 1g of acceleration. 4) Maybe the only reason why you're not floating now is because the Earth is expanding beneath you at 1g of acceleration. 5) Maybe all matter expands at some accelerated rate. 6) Maybe you don't see the expansion of the Earth while you're standing on it because while you are standing on it, your mass is added to the Earth's and you and the Earth expand together as one object. 7) Maybe when you're in free "fall" (free float); because the Earth and you are then separated by space, you and the Earth expand at different rates (determined by mass) which is why you can actually see the Earth expanding beneath you while you're floating. yes? no? why? why not?
An observational flaw.... If in fact while one was "floating", as you put it, "you and the Earth expand at different rates", and "you and the Earth expand together as one object", which refers to an object/person still on the earth, wouldn't any object that was still on the earth appear to be a different size than it originally was? in other words...object 1 is floating, expanding at some rate different than object 2 on the earth..object 1 and 2 were originally the same size...now after 1 undergoes its "free float", it will be a different size due to the different rate of expansion, thus the sizes of object 1 and 2 will differ. how do you account for this?
CTEBO: It's exactly that kind of thinking which is the basis of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.
While object 2 is being lifted to the spot from which it is about to be dropped, for the duration of that upward motion it expands faster than the Earth does (>1g). Then, for the instant of time that it is suspended above the Earth before it is actually "dropped", it expands at 1g again. Then when it is actually "dropped" and attains what I call free "float" it expands slower than the earth does (<1g). By the time it reaches the surface again, its relative volume is the same as when it left. Object 2 would have to travel faster than c on the way up or down in order to not sinc up with the earth again upon its return to the surface. What follows is my proof and long winded thought process for the above claim. While every chunk of matter expands at a different rate determined by its mass (according to this hypothesis) ALL chunks of matter are expanding at a perpetually accelerating rate. So each chunk is actually expanding at Xgs (e.g. the earth expands at 1g). While bodies A and B are on the earth's surface, they pick up the earth's accelerated momentum and expand along with it at 1g. During the trip up and down, body B goes through 3 states of motion. During upward motion, body B actually expands at a rate higher than 1g, because that upward motion consists of two components: the motion of the earth's expanding surface PLUS the motion which is carrying it away from that expanding surface. It is as if the surface of the earth has broken off into two layers, where one layer (the real layer) continues to expand at 1 g, while the other virtual layer is now expanding at some rate greater than 1g. We are to imagine this virtual layer as the thing which is actually lifting body B into the sky, whether physically it's someone's hand, an elevator, a crane or a rocket. This virtual layer is basically always on body B's ass. It serves the purpose of showing that as long as body B is in upward motion (away from the surface), the energy it takes to widen that spatial gap between body B and the earth only adds to body B's already accelerated momentum. Once body B has reached the point from which it is about to be dropped (the 2nd state), it is as if our virtual surface has settled at 1g again, because it is holding a position parallel to the earth's surface (no more upward motion). While body B is being suspended above the earth's surface, for the duration of that suspension body B expands at 1g again. This point is crucial. If two objects are expanding at different rates, then, relative to the faster-expanding object, the other one would not appear to be expanding slower, instead it would appear to be shrinking. -Relative to body B, while it was being elevated, the earth was shrinking. -While body B is suspended x amount of meters in the air, it looks like the earth is smaller than body B is. (and it is, only body B mistakes it for depth perception-more on that later) THEN body B is "dropped". It is not really dropped, it is "released from its suspension" which is different because while it was being suspended it was not really at rest, it is in accelerated motion. During the entire time that body B is in free "float", it is expanding only at the level of gs determined by its rest mass and that alone. Now, during free float, it is body B who is expanding slower than the earth, (therefore, shrinking). By the time body B is back on earth, it would have the same relative volume that it had when it began its journey. ONLY if body B somehow managed to travel faster than c would there be a volume discrepency upon body B's return to earth's surface.
