zlacker

I have two quite bright nieces. When I was explaining the equivalence principle to them, right away they saw that in the gravitational field of the earth there would be tidal effects and in free space with just acceleration, none.

I had to apologize and say that the explanation was over simplified and really it would work, say, only for some creatures living exactly on the floor of the elevator.

One of the two, at a challenging high school, made Valedictorian (surprise to her parents who didn't know she had long been first in her class) then in college PBK, got her law degree at Harvard, started at Cravath-Swain, went for an MD, and now is practicing medicine. Bright niece.