A beam of light and a baseball are both affected by gravity. Why is the path of the baseball different than the path of the light beam?

Question

anonymous · Answer

because the gravity pulls the base ball down more at a faster rate then the beam of light because it is heavier

anonymous · Answer

Why would you expect them to be the same ? The same in what way ? All matter is affected by gravity, but different things are moving on different paths.

In reality you couldn't get the baseball to move at the speed of light, and the light can only move at that speed, so what sort of comparison do you have in mind ?

The acceleration of a baseball can be calculated pretty well using newton's theory of gravity as long as the gravity is not extreme, but i think you need einstein's general theory of relativity to calculate the bending of light.

(By the way, there is a principle of physics called the equivalence principle, which leads me to think that the baseball and the light beam will suffer the same acceleration due to gravity. That doesn't mean they necessarily would follow the same path.)