What is gravity ?

Gravity. This force governs our everyday lives. It pulls us down, prevents our solar system from flying apart. But the ultimate question is, what is gravity? To understand gravity, we have to understand what our universe is made out of. So, the two basic elements are space and time. Without these two important elements, the universe would not be possible. However, to many physicists, especially Isaac Newton, space and time were two different entities which had absolutely nothing to do with each other. However, Albert Einstein saw things differently. To him, space and time were actually one and the same. He called this interwoven entity of space and time, space-time. You can think of space-time as this kind of continuum or fabric which permeates the entire universe. And everything in our universe, all the stars, galaxies, and planets rest on this fabric of space-time. And in the presence of matter and energy, such as a planet, the fabric of space-time begins to warp around the object. And this warping of space-time in response to energy and physical entities is what we perceive as gravity. And for those of you who are bored, there's actually something interesting that comes from this. You see, gravity, as mentioned earlier, not only warps space, but it also warps time. Which means the more gravity there is, the more time is warped. And gravity warps time by slowing it down. So, increased gravity means slower time. And this weird and wacky property of space-time can be infinitely beneficial to us. Black holes have a gravitational pull of about 1 million Gs. This is strong enough to trap light. Now, let's say that you got into a rocket ship and traveled very close to a black hole. Now, the gravity near a black hole would be so strong that its effects on the warping of time would be magnified. So, while time on earth might be going at the normal pace we're used to in our everyday lives, near a black hole, time would be slowed down so much that if you stayed near a black hole for approximately 2 hours, back on earth, 50 years would have passed. And if you stayed near a black hole for approximately 7 years, back on earth, 500 years would have passed. And that's just the beginning. If you think that gravity is weird on a macroscopic scale, wait till we get to an atomic scale. But I'm afraid that would take a whole nother video to explain. So, this concludes part 1 of the gravity series. You're watching The Interesting Universe. Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe. And stay tuned for more upcoming videos on science and part 2 of the gravity series.