I think some of us have gotten close to stating what I am about to state,
but I'm not sure anyone has said it exactly this way or not.
Here we are debating whether it is okay to call g the "acceleration" due to
gravity. Do we likewise debate whether it is okay to say the rest mass of
an electron is 511 keV? I think we do not debate this. I think we accept
it. I think we say "rest mass" and "rest-mass energy" and "rest energy"
fairly synonymously. E = mc^2 is so ingrained in everyone that expressing
masses in energy units and expressing energy in mass units has become common
place. A little knowledge about special relativity makes us comfortable
doing this.
If people were as comfortable with general relativity as with special
relativity, wouldn't we feel the same thing about gravity terminology and
acceleration terminology? Isn't a main conclusion of general relativity
that there is an equivalence of the concepts of gravity and acceleration,
similar to a main conclusion of special relativity that there is an
equivalence of the concepts of energy and mass?
So, if the equivalence of energy and mass allow us to mix energy and mass
units and terminology, shouldn't the equivalence of gravity and acceleration
allow us to mix these units and terminology?
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D. Phone/voice-mail: 419-358-3270
Professor of Chemistry & Physics FAX: 419-358-3323
Chairman, Science Department E-Mail edmiston@bluffton.edu
Bluffton College
280 West College Avenue
Bluffton, OH 45817