From: dr.paul.g.ellis@gmail.com   
      
   On Monday, 22 April 2019 21:48:48 UTC+1, J.B. Wood  wrote:   
      
   > But my question still goes unanswered IMO - Why   
   > does the curvature of space-time give rise to a force/acceleration?   
      
   Can I offer a possibly over-simplistic intuitive answer:   
      
   When, sitting on a toboggan near the peak of a snow-laden hill, you   
   start to free-fall, you will likely accelerate down the hill,   
   following a curved path in space and time.   
      
   If you tried to repeat the event in near-empty space, your path   
   would be less-curved as there would be very much less mass in the   
   vicinity.   
      
   That's all there is to it experientially (IMO) But you'd still need   
   the mass distribution to solve EFEs to retro-dict your path).   
      
   Alternatively, you can describe the same situation in Newtonian terms.   
      
   [[Mod. note -- "Free-fall" means something quite different -- it means   
   literally falling free, with no non-gravitational forces acting on you.   
   In particular, if the Earth's surface is exerting any forces on you,   
   you're not free-falling.   
   -- jt]]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)