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Re:If gravity isn't a force, then why does it "need" a boson? by saagarjha on Wednesday March 20, 2024 @09:07PM (#39773907)
Yes but the feeling of weightlessness is something you can distinguish!
Re:If gravity isn't a force, then why does it "need" a boson? by stetrain on Thursday March 21, 2024 @08:49AM (#39777879)
But you don't feel the force of acceleration. Floating weightless and motionless in space feels the same as being in an elliptical orbit around a planet.
Re:If gravity isn't a force, then why does it "need" a boson? by lupire on Thursday March 21, 2024 @12:57PM (#39781206)
Even more, accelerating due to a being in an (idealized) rocket also feels the same.

https://www.npl.washington.edu/eotwash/equivalence-principle

This has to be true, because if you can't (internally) detect the difference between nothing and a planet being nearby, you obviously also can't detect how massive the planet is, so you can't know if your acceleration relative to the nearby environment is due to gravity or something else, or even how much "absolutel" acceleration you have.

Standing on earth (or the floor of your rocket) feels different due to electromagnetic effects of the nearby "touching" external objects.