Reading: Chapters 4 (Gravitation and the Motions of Planets) and 24 (Black Holes)
In the 1600's, Issac Newton developed his theory for Universal Gravitation and his three laws of motion (for Classical Mechanics). This way of looking at the Universe works quite nicely for the motions of the planets and most of our everyday experiences. However, under certain circumstances, this picture is inadequate. To fix-up some problems, Albert Einstein developed his General Theory of Relativity which brought a new persepctive to our thinking about space, time, and gravitation.
To get a feel for some of Einstein's ideas, we must start thinking about the space-time of the Universe. Suppose that I tell you that Physics 208 meets in 112 Willamette Hall. Is this enough to get to class everyday? Well, probably not because I didn't tell you when class would meet. You most likely would show up at the wrong time and no one would be here. So, in order for you to show up for class, I must tell you where and when class is. That is, to define some event in the Universe I must tell you not only where the event occurs (its spatial position) but I must also tell you when the event occurs (its temporal position). In this sense, the space and time positions are both important and we should really think about events in the Universe in terms of space-time positions.
Interesting properties of the space-time of the Universe is that it has structure and is not rigid. What are some consequences of viewing the Universe in this manner. Well, just as the paths of rolling objects (e.g., a ball on a table top) follow the shape of the surface, it turns out that rolling objects in the Universe follow the shape of the space-time structure of the Universe.
Locally on the Earth, the space-time is fairly flat and so unless you push on an object, its free motion (unforced motion) is in a straight line. However, if I were to place a large chunk of mass into the room, the mass would distort the shape of the space-time. In two-dimensions, this is easy to visualize. Imagine a rubber sheet onto which you place a bb. The bb will cause a depression to form in the rubber sheet. This is analogous to what mass does to the structure of space. It in a sense causes a depression to form so that if an object rolls toward it, it gets sucked into the pit and is captured. (This, by the way, is how Einstein envisioned gravity works. Mass distorts the space-time causing particles to roll toward the mass. Note that the objects follow the shape of the space-time and in this sense are following an unforced motion! That is, there is no gravitational force, objects are following their natural motions.)
Since the shape of the space-time can be modified by mass, this implies that it is not rigid. Returning to the rubber sheet analogy, where if I drop a bb on the sheet, ripples in the sheet will be produced which propagate away from the disturbance, if I disturb the positions of mass in the Universe, I can cause ripples to form in the space-time which propagate away from the disturbance. These ripples are referred to as gravity waves. They almost certainly exist, but there have been no direct measurements of their existence (there is only indirect evidence that they exist).