Editing Bucket argument (section)

{{Short description|Thought experiment in physics}}
[[Isaac Newton]]'s rotating '''bucket argument''' (also known as '''Newton's bucket''') is a thought experiment that was designed to demonstrate that true [[rotational motion]] cannot be defined as the relative rotation of the body with respect to the immediately surrounding bodies.  It is one of five [[argument]]s from the "properties, causes, and effects" of "true motion and rest" that support his contention that, in general, true motion and rest cannot be defined as special instances of motion or rest [[Galilean invariance|relative]] to other bodies, but instead can be defined only by reference to [[absolute space]]. Alternatively, these experiments provide an [[operational definition]] of what is meant by "[[absolute rotation]]", and do not pretend to address the question of "rotation relative to ''what''?"<ref name="Cohen">{{cite book |author=Disalle |first=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3wIzvqzfUXkC&dq=centrifugal+Einstein+rotating+globes&pg=PA44 |title=The Cambridge Companion to Newton |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |isbn=0-521-65696-6 |editor-last=Cohen |editor-first=I. Bernard |page=43 |editor-last2=Smith |editor-first2=George E.}}</ref> [[General relativity]] dispenses with absolute space and with physics whose cause is external to the system, with the concept of [[Geodesics in general relativity|geodesics]] of [[spacetime]].<ref>{{citation |title=Mach's Principle II |first1=James G. |last1=Gilson |date=September 1, 2004 |arxiv=physics/0409010 |bibcode=2004physics...9010G}}</ref>