Why do people think that rubber sheet with a ball analogy for gravity is good?

Answer 1

I don't know the reason.

A lot of really clever people have used it, but I think it's more or less useless.

I used to like it, before I really thought about it.

The idea is that the ball distorts the rubber sheet just like mass distorts space.

The distortion of space (spacetime to be exact) is the basis of our modern understanding of gravity.

Some people like this analogy until you point out the problems.

Some things are just really hard to explain.

It was simpler with Isaac newton. He just had no explanation for gravity.

OK, it's only an analogy, but here's one problem:

The rubber sheet is only 2 dimensional, of course.

Here's another problem : The whole analogy is meant to "explain" gravity.

What causes the ball (mass) to distort the sheet (space)?

The ball is pulled towards the Earth by.........gravity.

Yes, but no , well, I mean........

Answer 2

The analogy is simple and visually intuitive, making it easier for people to understand the concept of gravity causing objects to move toward each other in a curved space-time continuum. It helps to visualize how massive objects create curvature in space-time, which affects the motion of other objects.