Is the orientation inside of a Bag of Holding the same as the outside world?

Question

Gravity's a funny thing. It Makes all sorts of things fall and stay there. Does the pocket dimension in the Bag of holding have the same gravity directions as we do?

For example. I have a pile of china that I looted from a castle in 5e. I place it inside the bag of holding. I then shake the bag violently. Maybe I'm getting on a horse, and the horse doesn't approve, maybe I trip and roll down a ravine, maybe I decide a bag of holding is an adequate juggling tool. Is my china destroyed?

Now onto the other meat of my question. Other people have asked if the Bags of holding can be escaped from, by opening the flap and waltzing out. Well... what happens if the Bag is placed upside down in a bucket. The flap can no longer open. They are essentially trapped until they die 10 mins later. What they think is up, actually isn't.

These bags of holding I feel like make up some of the greatest debates, and most thought provoking concepts of almost any magical item.

Answer 1

The bag is magic, but it's still a bag

Unlike in previous editions where the bag is described as opening into a nondimensional space, in 5e the bag of holding is described as a bag with a bigger interior space. Otherwise, it's a normal bag. If you put something in the bag, it behaves like a normal bag.

Will shaking it destroy my china? Yup, just like a normal bag.

What happens if the bag is placed upside down in a bucket? What happens if you are placed in a normal bag upside down in a bucket? You still know which way is up, you can push your way out.

However...

The description of Portable Hole refers to bag of holding as creating an extradimensional space. In which case, any object placed inside is completely separated from the plane the bag is on and all physics associated with that plane.

In that case, shaking the bag won't hurt your china. However you can still push your way out of the bag as normal.