ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Einstein–Cartan theory

Imagine you and your friend are playing with a ball. Your friend throws the ball at you, and you catch it. When you catch the ball, you feel a force pushing your hand back. This force is the ball "pushing" back against your hand. This force happens because the ball has mass, and mass creates something called "gravity."

Now think about the Earth. The Earth is a giant ball of mass, and it creates a strong force of gravity that pulls everything towards it. You and everything around you are being pulled towards the Earth because of its gravity.

The Einstein-Cartan Theory is a way of explaining gravity and how it interacts with the fundamental building blocks of the universe. This theory combines two important ideas: Einstein's theory of gravity and Cartan's theory of spinning particles.

Einstein's theory of gravity says that gravity is not a force, but rather the result of how mass warps the fabric of space and time. Imagine a trampoline with a heavy ball in the center. The ball will create a dent in the trampoline, and everything around it will be pulled towards it. This is similar to how mass warps space and time, creating gravity.

Cartan's theory of spinning particles says that particles have a property called "spin." Spin is like a top spinning on its axis. This spinning creates a small amount of "twist" in the fabric of space and time, kind of like how a pencil can make a tiny dent in a piece of paper.

The Einstein-Cartan Theory combines these two ideas to create a new understanding of gravity. In this theory, particles with spin create tiny twists in the fabric of space and time. These twists interact with the mass of other particles, creating the gravitational force that we feel.

So, just like how the ball you caught pushed back against your hand, particles with mass push back against the twists in space and time created by spinning particles. This push creates the force of gravity that we feel.

Overall, the Einstein-Cartan Theory is a way of explaining how gravity works using two important ideas: Einstein's theory of gravity and Cartan's theory of spinning particles. It's like saying that the Earth creates a dent in the fabric of space and time, and this dent interacts with the spinning particles of everything around us to create the force of gravity that pulls us towards the Earth.