To: MonroeDNA
Technical staff has examined the situation and wants to know the size of the elevator. Is it small -- 20 passengers or so, or is it large -- the size of the moon? Makes a difference. If it's small, it will be impossible to measure a difference. If it is large, the gravity field will have measurable curvature and the acceleration will be of course uniformly flat. So it depends on whether you want to treat the gravity field as a uniformly flat, infinitesimally small segment of the spherical gravity field.
To: RightWhale
Technical staff confirmed my point!
In the right situation, with the right measuring instruments, gravity and accelleration CAN be distinguished, which is against what Einstein said.
Oh, the elevator example? It's what Einstein used as an example of how they are indistinguishable.
Assume the elevator is large enough such that the subtle angle difference can be measured. With today's technology, that would be around 100 feet wide, more or less.
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