pmourad

I agree with both of you, @Baryon and @Studiot. I am not a scientist, just an enthusiast on astrophysics and I've been reading about Einstein's relativity and even though the first image did help me understand the idea, it also made me wonder. As a matter of fact, here's another question if you don't mind. In the first image, the earth is "sitting" on top of this fabric, therefore bending it. Now that I know that this fabric is all around the earth, the fabric on top of the earth, would it be bending the fabric towards the earth or would it be bending it upwards?

Most images about general relativity and curvature of space time are show as the image below, where space-time is portrait as a "fabric". We see a grid that bends where earth is placed. I wonder though, if this fabric should be portrait in 3D as well. In the image below earth is "sitting" over this fabric, but isn't this fabric all around earth? If this is so, then space-time is being bent not only below earth, but all around it (view last image to see what I mean).

Hi. I am an astrophysics enthusiast and I would like to learn more, on my own at my own pace. I'm not pursuing any degree, I simply enjoy it and want to know more. I have very little knowledge in both physics and math. Since I chose to follow an artistic plan in high school, I saw almost no physics and the basics of algebra. Therefore, I believe learning math and physics would be an important steps before enrolling in astrophysics courses. So far, I've read (and enjoyed) the following books: "Seven brief lessons on physics" by Carlo Rovelli "Theory of everything" by Stephen Hawking (this one was a little challenging) "The order of time" by Carlo Rovelli "Astrophysics for people in a hurry" by Neil D. Tyson I wonder if you could recommend any courses, books or videos on things I should learn before diving into astrophysics. Thanks in advance, Paula.