Science Topics Home Page Email GM Arts Einstein's Relativity - Interesting Facts Matter determines how space curves.
Curved space determines how matter moves.
Due to the natural curvature of space, the shortest path between any two objects is never a straight line, but a curved line called a geodesic. An example of this is that we can see stars that are located in a straight line behind the sun appearing near the edge of the sun. This occurs because the strong gravitational effect of the sun curves space in such a way that the shortest distance for light to travel is the geodesic path curved around the edge of the sun. An earth-based analogy is that aeroplane flight paths follow geodesic paths instead of straight lines around the curved earth surface to save both time and fuel. This geometry is a fundamental part of Einstein's general theory of relativity.