| gravitational field is a model
used to explain the influence that a massive body extends into the
space around itself, producing a force on another massive body. Thus, a
gravitational field is used to explain gravitational phenomena, and is measured in newtons per kilogram (N/kg). In its original concept, gravity was a force between point masses. Following Newton, Laplace attempted to model gravity as some kind of radiation field or fluid,
and since the 19th century explanations for gravity have usually been
sought in terms of a field model, rather than a point attraction.
In a field model, rather than two particles attracting each other, the particles distort space-time
via their mass, and this distortion is what is perceived and measured
as a "force". In such a model one states that matter moves in certain
ways in response to the curvature of space-time, and that there is either no gravitational force, or that gravity is a fictitious force. |
