Talk:Equivalence principle

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Questionable statement

"a free-floating (weightless) inertial body will simply follow those curved geodesics into an elliptical orbit. An accelerometer on-board would never record any acceleration." I'm quite certain that an object approaching from a distance, in a hyperbolic trajectory, cannot enter into an orbit without experiencing acceleration (actually, deceleration). So-called "ballistic capture" of spacecraft by other bodies always involves at least some maneuvering, or else the involvement of a moving third body to temporarily alter the shape of the geodesic.

References

Article issues and classification

The article is tagged "citation needed" since 2011, weasel-worded phrases (November 2018), and failed verification (June 2018). There is also a great deal of unsourced content including equations. The B-class criteria #1 states; The article is suitably referenced, with inline citations. It has reliable sources, and any important or controversial material which is likely to be challenged is cited. Reassess to C-class. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Otr500 (talk • contribs)

Desperately seeking clarity

This paragraph:

"Newton, just 50 years after Galileo, developed the idea that gravitational and inertial mass were different concepts and compared the periods of pendulums composed of different materials to verify that these masses are the same. This form of the equivalence principle became known as 'weak equivalence'."

refers to "this form of the equivalence principle", but never states clearly what "this form" refers to.

I hope someone knowledgeable about this subject can rewrite this paragraph much more clearly. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:204:f181:9410:11b1:2ee1:b5d3:78da (talk)

For some reason the content above does not have a Reply button.

I changed the paragraph, please check. Johnjbarton (talk) 22:15, 8 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]