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Re: [Phys-l] definition of gravity



A question or clarification or quibble provided for discussion:


However, whether or not I'm right about that, I wish to
use a different definition. I recommend *defining*
"gravity" to be the acceleration of the chosen reference
frame (as measured by reference to freely-falling objects).

[Joel Rauber]
I think a possible parsing of the words above is -

Choose the reference frame of the earth's surface and ask what is gravity? That frame accelerates upwards as measured in reference to a freely-falling object.

(The word reference could be interpreted as "relative to" - which is the way I interpreted the words "reference to"; whereas I suspect you meant by "reference to" in the sense of "fiducial" i.e. using the freely falling object as the measuring stick of the acceleration.

I'm wondering if it might less susceptible to misinterpretation to say something more like -

"gravity" acting on an object is the acceleration relative to the chosen frame of reference of a reference-freely-falling object.