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Re: inertial forces (definition)



Newton definitely noted the different concepts of gravitational "charge"
and intertial mass, noted that they were strictly proportional (and thus
could be made equal by a suitable choice of the number "G"), and had no
explanation for this surprising fact. The explanation is not provided
until General Relativity.

General relativity doesn't explain this fact. It uses it
as a postulate, the principle of equivalence, and uses
it to deduce previously unobserved phenomena, like the
bending of light in a gravitational field.

We should never lose sight of the fact that physics
doesn't provide the answers to the deep questions one can
ask about Nature. The best physics can do is provide an
*accurate* quantitative description of Nature which is
*internally consistent*. Achievement of greater accuracy
in theory and experiment and the linking of previously
unconnected bodies of physical knowledge in self-
consistent ways, or the demonstration of problems or
error inherent in either of these processes, is what we
call "progress" in physics.

Leigh