Science Squabbling

Very much so.

So does gravity even really exist?

Isn't it just a by-product of mass? Bodies with mass will attract each other because they're curving space time?

Sorry if that sounds like a silly question, just thinking out loud...

I think you'll find they're Pegasii.

I'm not sure anyone, in the whole history of the internet, has used the Latinate plural of Pegasus before.

Well done.

Unfortunately, Pegasus was actually an individual, and there is therefore no plural of his name. Not only that, but had there been a plural form, it would most likely have been either the Greek Πήγασοι or the Latin Pegasi or Pegasūs (no idea whether Pegasus fell into the second or the u-declension). :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus

So does gravity even really exist?

Isn't it just a by-product of mass?

Gravity is the name we give to the property of matter which causes curvature of space-time

Bodies with mass will appear to attract each other because they're curving space time?

is probably a better way to say it.

MASS (or energy density) is the name we give to the property of matter which causes curvature of space-time,

Gravity is the name we give to accelerations dependent on a bodies mass (or energy density).
Which is somewhat semantics but ultimately mass/energy tells space how to warp and space tells mass/energy how to move.

Technical addon:

[G=(8*pi*g)*T], where G is space time curvature and T is energy density, the rest just constants.

"exist" is a loaded term.

To assign curved orbits to a local effect is more elegant than blaming some magic long range force.

But ... Quantum Gravity?

Gravitational MASS (or energy density) is the name we give to the property of matter which causes curvature of space-time

Nobody knows why gravitational mass correlates with inertial mass

It's all bullshit, anyway, and God was only taking the mickey when He dropped an apple on Newton.

Pegasus was actually an individual...

Inertial mass isn't part of this conversation is it?

It is now. :)

MASS (or energy density) is the name we give to the property of matter which causes curvature of space-time

You mean Gravitational mass.

EDIT: got testered

Given this was a discussion about gravity I thought that was assumed. Obviously not.

Mass is a far more common term than either gravitational mass or inertial mass, which typically only used when being careful about which you are referring to.

typically only used when being careful about which you are referring to

Being careful about that to which you are referring is at the core of this thread.

I'm not taking tips from a man who says gravity is a property of matter.

All he has to do is to say it with proper gravitas and nothing else matters.

I'm not taking tips from a man who says gravity is a property of matter

I stand by my comment. Gravity means weight or heaviness. If that isn't the property of matter which curves space-time, I'm not sure what is. Mass remains ambiguous, which is why we have to disambiguate between inertial mass and gravitational mass for the time being. If somebody can prove that inertial mass ≣ gravitational mass, the ambiguity will go away.

All he has to do is to say it with proper gravitas

You don't need to speak Latin, the English word gravity means the same.

Seriously?

Seriously?

Yep, look it up if you don't believe me. Using gravitas where gravity would do (in the sense of seriousness or dignity of manner or speech) is just pretentious, and I know whereof I speak :-)

well this is heading into semantics but gravity is a force and mass is a property of matter. We don't refer to the Coulomb force as a property of charge...

this is heading into semantics but gravity is a force

I thought that's where we came in - the question of whether gravity is a force. Mass/energy interacts with space-time in two ways, firstly by curving it and secondly by following the geodesic unless some other interaction makes it do something else. The alternative model in which gravity is a force mediated by the graviton seems to have even more problems than the curved space-time model.

gravity isn't a force, at least not to me.

Gravity is the affect of the bending of space time due to massive objects.

Also thought that specifying gravitational mass over inertial to be relevant as we were all just knit-picking.