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Post by silverdragon on Jul 14, 2014 10:22:27 GMT
There is a wide belief, a Myth, that Gravity does not exist in space......
Is it time for Mythbusters to tackle this myth?
Exact explanation, space ships orbiting earth are being drawn slowly towards earth at the same rate as the occupants, same kind of thing as actually shown by the Vomit Comet.
Gravity exists, but its extremely weak.
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Post by mrfatso on Jul 14, 2014 12:50:13 GMT
Gravity exists basically everywhere, we talk of things behaving the property of No Gravity, they are actually in a condition know as weightlessness. www.yalescientific.org/2010/10/mythbusters-does-zero-gravity-exist-in-space/I am not good at this but as I understand it, if you imagine Astronauts moving in an orbit around the Earth, they are draw towards the Earth at a certain rate due Gravity, but the movement of their craft around the parabola counteracts that force and makes them float. |
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Post by watcher56 on Jul 14, 2014 15:56:37 GMT
An object orbiting the earth is being pulled toward the earth with almost the same force as a person standing on earth. It is indeed falling toward the earth, but the orbiting object is going so fast forward it misses the earth and just keeps goin' round.
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Post by GTCGreg on Jul 14, 2014 16:07:43 GMT
If the International Space Station wasn't moving at almost 5 miles per second, it would drop like a rock.
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Post by silverdragon on Jul 15, 2014 6:45:54 GMT
Orbiting the earth is a matter of matching speed to gravity.
A Body in motion.... (We all know that phrase?..)
But that body in motion wants to go in a straight line.
At Right-Angles to that straight line is the force of gravity attracting the body.
If you balance the two, they counter-act each other, you get an equilibrium.
But the Body in motion is affected at exactly the same rate as the craft it is travelling in.
Thus you get that equilibrium they call "Zero G", as in zero gravitational force.
Its a misnomer, because there is always gravity.
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Post by the light works on Jul 15, 2014 17:13:34 GMT
I would imagine there are certain points in space where all forces are in balance, and that would be as close as it gets to no gravity. - but I agree there is gravity - the other is also known as "free fall" where all bodies involved are falling at the same rate, so there is nothing to compare to for gravity.
(the international space station is flying in the Douglas Adams manner - it has thrown itself at the ground and missed.)
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Post by silverdragon on Jul 16, 2014 9:11:49 GMT
There may be an equilibrium between tow large masses, but, that would be like saying an equilibrium between two moving air masses is no wind?...
And that is pedantic isnt it?... but its valid.
You dont get "Zero" gravity.
Thats the point I am trying to make, the closer you are to a large mass, the stronger the gravitational forces, but there is no "Zero" gravity, just progressively weaker.
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Post by OziRiS on Jul 16, 2014 10:39:21 GMT
I think the misconception came about from astronauts talking about zero gravity and actually meaning zero gravitational effect on them, because gravitational force and linear speed cancelled each other out, making them "weightless", but people took it to mean that there simply was no gravity at all.
A person being truly weightless would mean having no mass at all, which is impossible. You'll always have mass. There's just a difference in the way you experience weight, depending on the amount of gravity you're affected by.
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Post by watcher56 on Jul 17, 2014 0:51:06 GMT
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Post by the light works on Jul 17, 2014 4:15:07 GMT
that name is familiar to me. |
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Post by ponytail61 on Jul 17, 2014 5:11:45 GMT
that name is familiar to me. As soon as I saw it the first thing that came to mind is the book "The Mote in God's Eye" |
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Post by c64 on Aug 4, 2014 14:39:39 GMT
The "space industry" never claims doing anything in "no gravity", they call it "microgravity".
There is no spot in the observable universe that has real "no gravity" since even galaxies interact with each other.
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