Spacetime Stiffness and Rigidity Approximation

A simplified argument is given to suggest that spacetime is very rigid or stiff. First Einstein’s Field Equations for General Relativity are significantly simplified to allow us to focus in on a constant term. Then a constant term, involving the Gravitational Constant G and the speed of light c, is shown to be very small. From the constant term it is argued that what acts on spacetime to cause it to curve must be very large and hence spacetime is very stiff. However, it is also pointed out that as with the equation “ E equals m c-squared”, it is not necessarily correct to say that a large energy is produced by a very small mass because of the factor “c-squared” is very large since units can be formed with c=1 and in that case E=m. Nevertheless, with that fact in mind, the units applied in the example suggest that spacetime is very rigid. Andrew R. Ochadlick Jr. received a Ph.D. in Physics from the State University of New York at Albany (SUNYA) and is a career physicist with university, government and industry R&D experience and teaching experience at the undergraduate and graduate level. He may be reached at [email protected] .