10
QuizMultiple Choice

General Relativity — Quiz

Question 10 • Physics

Which best explains how an object at rest deep in space and far from any massive body behaves compared to an object in free fall in Earth’s gravitational field?

Answer
A
They behave differently because, according to the principle of equivalence, the laws of physics depend on frames of reference.
B
They behave differently because, according to gravitational redshift, the laws of physics depend on frames of reference.
C
They behave the same because, according to the principle of equivalence, the laws of physics work the same in all frames of reference.
D
They behave the same because, according to gravitational redshift, the laws of physics work the same in all frames of reference.

Explanation

The principle of equivalence says that, in a small local region, an object in free fall experiences the same physics as an object in an inertial frame far from massive bodies. Both are weightless and follow inertial motion, so their behavior is locally the same. Gravitational redshift describes how light’s frequency changes in a gravitational field; it is not the principle that explains this comparison.

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