Allen D I once read of the effects which would be noticed by a human being free falling feet first into a black hole. It was stated that one would be stretched further and further as one got closer and closer to the destination because the feet would be closer than the head and therefore be accelerated to a higher velocity because the gravitational attraction would be greater at the feet than the head and that the closer one got to the destination the 'taller' one would become. Is this the effect you postulate for the functioning of your accelerometer in an elliptical orbit? Paul D No...and i know this is difficult espesialy if you dont understand what grav and inertia are....im not ridiculing you ..coz this realy is rocket science..but you must first understand how MS defines and expains grav and inertia before you can argue that its conclusions are correct!? In a eliptical orbit the variations wrt all thoese grav feilds that are the cause of inertia is even more so then in a circular orbit.....you cant just ignore the very "engine" of your orbit which is also at the same time the cause of Inertia and say we can detect it as long as we move in arc wrt to thoes grav/inerial feilds but as soon as our arc becomes a circle or elipse.... well then...when we travle in a cirle now it just all magicly disappears...!?. .. In a orbit eliptical or not there are two gravitional forces..one toward the body being orbitied and the other away from the body being orbited, ..we also need which inertia to keep the whole thing moving "indefinatly" but ineritia is just a reaction to the grav fields of all thoses distant bodies ..........inertia is just a term ussed to describe the reaction mass has to all the grav feilds in the universe.....inertia is the force of grav actiing on eveything in MS................... Unlike a falling object wrt earth, (apple from tree...aka.....free fall) In a orbit you must have, need and cannot just consider the earth's gravitational/inertial feild to pull the apple toward the earth but you also need a secondary force (inertial) to keep the propensity for the satilite to fly off into space in such a way that those two "forces" acting against each other are in balance with each other so as to have a stable orbit. If the only field present was grav then what keeps the satellite in orbit from falling to the earth..we say..inertia...ah but inertia is gravity according to MS .............. so which grav field and from where is it acting on the satellite in the opisite direction of the pull of the gravity coming from the earth?...MS claims all those other gravity feilds external of our Inertial ref frame .......well then you can't isolate "one" ref frame from all the other fames out there because if acceleraions are detected wrt one set of grav feilds then it must be able to be detected wrt the other set of grav feilds....but wait all those other feilds out there are what causes the detectable acceleraions in the first place............what are we detecting in an acceleration in the first place?..it is the inertial effect of all thoese external grav feilds..........so then.....How is a circular/ continuous arc/ elliptical orbit of a near star (grav/inerital source) different from a circular/ continuous arc/ elliptical trajectory wrt a distant star (grav/inerital source)..... Inertia is the force of gravity acting on a body in GTR .... it is due to those inertial fields that we observably measure when we detect any accelerations ..How do we isolate the gravitational/ inertial field of a near body from all the others out there that supposedly cause the reaction (inertia) in the first place which is what we use to detect accelerations? If we do not isolate them from each other, then a body has the same orientation to those distant external inertial fields that cause inertia whether or not it is in a orbit. But, this begs the question, if those external inertial fields are the cause of inertia then how does the inertial field of the body that is being orbited prevent those fields from doing the same thing they do when a body is not in a orbit, particularly since those distant fields are supposedly the cause of the inertial reaction. If however on the other hand we claim that the inertial /gravitational field that creates the inertial effects only pertains to the "Inertial reference frame" such that the distant mass/grav/inertial fields do not significantly affect the inertial field of the "inertial reference frame" thus preventing the detection of the free fall in that inertial field/ ref frame.....Then what keeps the orbit of the bodies from collapsing in on each other?!........If gravity is the force pulling both bodies toward each other then where is the other vector force ( gravity/ inertial force that causes the bodies to move away from each other) coming from to balance the motions so as to create a stable orbit?.. If the inertial field of the distance stars do not significantly affect the inertial state of the body in orbit (itʼʼs "inertial reference frame") then while gravity is pulling the two bodies toward each other how exactly is gravity also the source of the inertial momentum away from that body that supposedly is in balance with the pull from that body to create the orbit!? And if the inertial fields of distant bodies does affect the "inertial ref frame" ( orbiting a gravity feild source) so as to produce the inertial force that keeps the propensity of the orbiting body to move away from the body being orbited,...... then how are the inertial affects due to those distant inertial fields prevented from deomonstrating a detectable acceleration in orbit while at the same time providing the inertial force to keep the whole thing working? Does a straight line trajectory wrt thoes distant inertial feilds produce a different effect then when the trajectory is a arc? if not why would a orbit matter where or not we could detect changes wrt thoese exact same distant inertial feilds that clearly demonstrated detectable accelerations when not moving in a arc?.......whether or not a body is at rest or in motion it is the distant inertial fields that cause the detection of motion or acceleration in the first place. How exactly do you define a free fall and at what point do the inertial fields that create the inertial effects (detection of acceleration) and at the same time prevent it? Free fall not a detection of acceleration is by definition changes wrt those same exact distant inertial/ gravitational fields. If you do not isolate those fields from your inertial one you claim we are in free fall around then there is no logical reason why those distant fields would be prevented from giving us a detectable acceleration in large arc verse a small one? Here is what you are left with. explaining, how a orbit or continuous arc trajectory of the body wrt those distant inertial fields is any different then..... a continuous arc trajectory wrt those distant inertial fields?! Are you claiming that if the arc makes a complete circuit then the effects of inertia due to those distant inertial fields not felt?!... An Acceleration is a measure of the inertial effect (the change of the state of motion wrt any given body). It is changes wrt those distant grav/inertia fields that is supposedly the cause of inertia so how exactly does the size of the arc or shape of a bodies trajectory wrt those distant fields determine whether or not we can detect the inertial effects? ________________________________ Get the name you always wanted with the new y7mail email address.