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I was thinking about an experiment I saw in my high school physics class 20 years ago. I believe the experiment is a common one, used to explain gravity.

4 students hold a sheet, 1 at each corner. A weight is placed in the center of the sheet. Then a marble is added. The marble will roll toward the weight, and will sometimes briefly orbit it.

This is used to show that gravity may be caused by a warping of space.

What occurred to me is that another way to look at it is that the weight AND the marble are being pulled by a forces that is perpendicular to the 2d space of the sheet. The gravity of the earth is pulling on both of them, from the third dimension (beneath the sheet). As a 2d creature on the sheet, it appears that the marble is attracted to the weight by an unseen force.

So, perhaps gravity is a force that is emanating from a single "direction" from a 4'th spatial dimension?

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This is why the rubber sheet is a terrible analogy for GR, and this idea doesn't work at all. – Ron Maimon Sep 1 '11 at 4:12
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This isn't the place to discuss personal theories. That being said, you could always bring it up in Physics Chat, where the rules are looser. You're not the first one to have that idea and I'm sure there are people here who could explain to you how well (or badly) it works. – David Zaslavsky♦ Sep 1 '11 at 4:29
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See also: xkcd.com/895 – Greg P Sep 1 '11 at 5:10

closed as off topic by David Zaslavsky♦ Sep 1 '11 at 4:26

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