Falling objects: help an ignorant fool

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In summary: If the mass of the projectile is greater than the curvature of space- time, the projectile will continue to travel in a straight line. If the mass of the projectile is smaller than the curvature of space- time, the projectile will curve in a curved path.
  • #1
scifell
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First of all, let me start by saying that I am quite uneducated when it comes to physics (not even as much as a high school physics course), so please be gentle with me. I wouldn't even be at your lovely forum, but this question has been driving me nuts, and no one else seems to answer it to my satisfaction. Thanks in advance for any help you provide.
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Do all objects fall at the same speed or not? I've been deeply confused over this issue for some time. The conventional answer is that, yes indeed, all objects do fall at the same speed. The acceleration of an object depends upon the force of gravity and the mass of an object. A more massive object will require more force to accelerate at the same speed as a less massive object, and gravity will act with greater force upon a more massive object. The conflicting points exactly cancel each other out, such that all object accelerate at the same speed.

But if I accept this, I am confronted with a wide range of paradoxes I can't explain. I'll list three of them:

1) If I were to drop a bowling ball toward the Earth, it would fall at a certain rate. If I were to drop the same ball toward the Moon, it would fall at a slower rate. Correct? The more massive the object (Earth vs. Moon), the greater the force of gravity and the greater the rate an object will accelerate tworads it due to gravity. Correct? But why should I use the Earth or the Moon as my frame of reference? Why can't I use the bowling ball as my frame of reference, and drop the Earth and the Moon towards the surface? In that case, we already know the Earth would fall faster twoard the bowling ball, and we know this is *because* of the greater mass of the Earth. So "heavier" or more massive objects do fall faster, don't they?

2) I saw on a physics website an equation that is used to determine the mass of a planet by setting an object in orbit around it. The speed with which this object orbits the planet determines the mass of the planet, but cannot (according to the site) determine the mass of the orbiting body- to do that you would have to set some other object in orbit around the first object. Why? Because, says the site, all objects, no matter the mass, will orbit at the same speed. So let's assume that we are sitting on an object in a universe devoid of anything other than the object we are sitting on and a body orbiting us/our object. We can use this body to determine the mass of the object we are on (pretending we are devoid of mass ourselves). Correct? So what if I said the object we are on is a satalite used by NASA and the orbiting body is a planet? Again, what object is orbiting what is simply an arbitrary frame of reference. I can just as easily choose the satalite as the object being orbited as I can the planet! And in doing so, I would come to the exact conclusion that the site says I can't- determine the weight of the object doing the orbiting. What has gone wrong here?

3) There was a debate for a long time regarding whether or not the universe would continue to expand forever or would collapse back in on itself. It was argued that if there was enough mass in the universe, it would collapse, and otherwise it would continue to expand. If mass is not important to the acceleration of two objects towards each other, why would it matter how much mass is in the universe at all? It seems the argument requires that more massive objects accelerate faster than less massive objects.


Is the whole idea of "all objects fall at the same speed" just bogus? Are the intro physics books simply wrong or oversimplifying the issue? What am I missing here?
 
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  • #2
1) The trick is that you have to use a non-accelerating frame of reference. In this frame you'll find that all other bodies accelerate towards the bowling ball at the same rate. The reason we can normally use the Earth as our frame of reference is that it's acceleration is very small (because the ball has such a weak gravitational pull).

2) Same problem, the equation uses approximations only valid if the first object is much more massive (eg. assumes that the center of mass is at the first object). From the surface, without reference to other bodies, I'm not sure how to distinguish a moon from a planet.

3) While it's true the mass of a projectile does not determine whether it falls back down again, the mass-density of the universe does nonetheless determine the curvature of space-time. This is in accordance with a theory that is of a higher mathematical level and which turns out to be surprisingly accurate.

In your attempt to list paradoxes you seem to obviously realize that a cannon ball and a fishing weight, if dropped from a house, will accelerate down at the same rate. What you're missing is how importantly this contradicted prior common belief, and thus initiated the scientific study of gravity.
 
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  • #3
Do all objects fall at the same speed or not? I've been deeply confused over this issue for some time. The conventional answer is that, yes indeed, all objects do fall at the same speed. The acceleration of an object depends upon the force of gravity and the mass of an object. A more massive object will require more force to accelerate at the same speed as a less massive object, and gravity will act with greater force upon a more massive object. The conflicting points exactly cancel each other out, such that all object accelerate at the same speed.

When an object falls towards the earth. It is being influenced by two factors - gravity and air resistance. It is because of air resistance that a bowling ball would hit the floor faster than a sheet a paper. Take air resistance out and both objects hot the ground at the same time.

1) If I were to drop a bowling ball toward the Earth, it would fall at a certain rate. If I were to drop the same ball toward the Moon, it would fall at a slower rate. Correct? The more massive the object (Earth vs. Moon), the greater the force of gravity and the greater the rate an object will accelerate tworads it due to gravity. Correct?
Sounds good to me.

But why should I use the Earth or the Moon as my frame of reference? Why can't I use the bowling ball as my frame of reference, and drop the Earth and the Moon towards the surface? In that case, we already know the Earth would fall faster twoard the bowling ball, and we know this is *because* of the greater mass of the Earth. So "heavier" or more massive objects do fall faster, don't they?
Actually, I think you are confused. When you drop an object to the earth, both the Earth and the object move towards each other to conserve momentum! The movement of the Earth is negligible becuase it is massive. If you where to somehow drop the Earth to the ball. Both would move towards each other, but the movement of the ball would be more noticeable becuase of its size.

Is the whole idea of "all objects fall at the same speed" just bogus? Are the intro physics books simply wrong or oversimplifying the issue? What am I missing here?
Consider this, in a vacuum, the only force acting on an object falling towards a surface is gravity. The acceleration can be found by:
[tex]a = \frac {F}{m}[/tex]
But since gravity is the only force, F in the above equation can be replaced by the objects weight, W.
[tex] W = mg[/tex]
where m is the mass of the object and g is acceleration due to gravity.
[tex]a = \frac {F}{m} = \frac {W} {m} = \frac {mg}{m} = g[/tex]
Thus the acceleration a is equal to g.
 
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  • #4
Actually, I think you are confused. When you drop an object to the earth, both the Earth and the object move towards each other to conserve momentum! The movement of the Earth is negligible becuase it is massive. If you where to somehow drop the Earth to the ball. Both would move towards each other, but the movement of the ball would be more noticeable becuase of its size.

Are you nuts? How can the Earth fall towards the object? According to you, if we drop two objects, at exactly opposite sides of the earth, and at exactly the same time, the Earth would have to split in two to reach each object, considering the Earth's atmosphere was large enough to keep the object in the air for an exceptionally long time.

If you're right, please explain your statement to help me understand.
 
  • #5
linux kid said:
Are you nuts? How can the Earth fall towards the object? According to you, if we drop two objects, at exactly opposite sides of the earth, and at exactly the same time, the Earth would have to split in two to reach each object, considering the Earth's atmosphere was large enough to keep the object in the air for an exceptionally long time.

If you're right, please explain your statement to help me understand.

No I am not nuts :rolleyes: This is exactly what happens. When you drop a ball, the action is the ball being pulled towards the earth, the reaction force is the Earth being pulled by the ball. Because the Earth is so massive, it seems unaffected by this. Please read up on the law of conservation of momentum.

Consider the following example:
A 5 kg ball is dropped [from rest] and allowed to fall for one second. The force pulling on the ball is 49N:
[tex]F = ma = 5 * 9.8 = 49[/tex]
The acceleration is 9.8 m/s/s
[tex]a = \frac {F}{m} = \frac {49}{5} = 9.8[/tex]
Since the ball is allowed to fall for one second, its velocity is also 9.8 m/s.
This gives the ball a momentum of 49 kg m/s:
[tex]p = mv = 5 * 9.8 = 49[/tex]

Now remember I said that the Earth is also falling towards the object. The force on the Earth is 49N. The acceleration of the Earth is 8.16*10^-24:
[tex]a = \frac {F}{m} = \frac {49}{6*10^{24}} = 8.16*10^{-24}[/tex]
Thus after one second the Earth will be moving up at a velocity of 8.16*10^-24 m/s. Now the momentum is 49 kg m/s in the opposite direction!
[tex]p = mv = 6*10^{24} * 8.16*10^{-24} = 49[/tex]

Thus momentum is conserved!
 
  • #6
linux kid said:
Are you nuts?
...
If you're right, please explain your statement to help me understand.
It's not acceptable to go about calling people "nuts", especially when they're right and you don't know they're wrong. Please show a little more respect to people, particularly those that you're asking to help you understand better.
 
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  • #7
The Earth's mass has something to do with its overall kinetic energy around the sun, which would effect it's gravity. And it's speed around the sun has something to do with the mass of the sun, which has something to do with ITS momentum relative to everything else.
 
  • #8
Thanks for the replies everyone. But I'm still confused.

The trick is that you have to use a non-accelerating frame of reference. In this frame you'll find that all other bodies accelerate towards the bowling ball at the same rate.

Will I? I thought the Earth would accelerate towards the bowling ball faster than the Moon. In fact, it seems quite obvious from the videos I've seen of people in space that a marble will have almost zero acceleration towards the bowling ball compared to the Earth- when starting from the same distance apart. Your answer just seems so obviously wrong. But everyone always gives it, so I must still be obviously missing something.

That aside, what exactly does it mean to use an "accelerating frame of reference" and how do you know I doing that? Isn't every object at rest with respect to itself? Only the Moon and Earth were accelerating in my example, as far as anyone can prove. In a universe consisting of only two objects, what reference frame isn't accelerating?

Both would move towards each other, but the movement of the ball would be more noticeable becuase of its size.

Again, if this was a properly controlled experiment with a universe consisting of only two objects, you would have no way of knowing which object's movement is "more noticable". Forget "falling" objects, where one object is much more massive than another. Is it true or not that the relative acceleration of two objects twoards each other is dependant upon the combined mass of both objects? Won't a bowling ball and a marble accelerate towards each other more slowly than a bowling ball and the sun- when starting from the same distance apart?

Consider this, in a vacuum, the only force acting on an object falling towards a surface is gravity. The acceleration can be found by:
[tex]a = \frac {F}{m}[/tex]
But since gravity is the only force, F in the above equation can be replaced by the objects weight, W.
[tex] W = mg[/tex]
where m is the mass of the object and g is acceleration due to gravity.
[tex]a = \frac {F}{m} = \frac {W} {m} = \frac {mg}{m} = g[/tex]
Thus the acceleration a is equal to g.

I don't understand this at all. Isn't g a constant? But acceleration isn't constant- it depends on distance. An object dropped on a mountain top will accelerate more slowly than an object dropped at sea level. Correct? And we are talking about two objects accelerating towards each other. Why is there only a single variable for mass in the equation?
 
  • #9
Again, if this was a properly controlled experiment with a universe consisting of only two objects, you would have no way of knowing which object's movement is "more noticable".
I see the point you are trying to make. But this is strictly from an observable view point. If you do the mathematics of it (my second response), it will become clear as to which object is falling towards the other at a faster rate. Just in case you are wondering how I got that force acting on the earth, its Newtons 3rd law.

Forget "falling" objects, where one object is much more massive than another. Is it true or not that the relative acceleration of two objects twoards each other is dependant upon the combined mass of both objects? Won't a bowling ball and a marble accelerate towards each other more slowly than a bowling ball and the sun- when starting from the same distance apart?
Every mass has a gravitational field that will exert an attractive force on another mass. The strength of the field in proportional to the mass of the object.

I don't understand this at all. Isn't g a constant? But acceleration isn't constant- it depends on distance. An object dropped on a mountain top will accelerate more slowly than an object dropped at sea level. Correct? And we are talking about two objects accelerating towards each other. Why is there only a single variable for mass in the equation?

I simply did that to show you that the only force acting on a mass in free fall [ignoring air resistance] is gravity itself. In other words, the claim made by the book isn't bogus. Note that g is measured from the center of the Earth to sea level. So 9.8 m/s/s is simply the force experienced by an object near the surface. You can find g for the different distances by varying r in following formula:
[tex]g = G \frac{m_1}{r^2}[/tex]
[tex]g = 6.67 * 10^{-11} \frac{5.9 * 10^{24}}{(6.3 * 10^6)^2} = 9.8[/tex] <--near the surface.
 
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  • #10
Thinking in terms of accelerating reference frames is the correct answer.
You know you are in one because you will observe an inertial force.
For example, if you place a marble in your hand while accelerating then it will roll in response to this acceleration. If you are simply moving but not accelerating then there lacks any measurable quantity that makes your frame unique.
 
  • #11
scifell said:
it seems quite obvious [..] that a marble will have almost zero acceleration towards the bowling ball compared to the Earth- when starting from the same distance apart.

It is actually true that the marble will accelerate towards the Earth more than it does towards the bowling ball, and you'll note this is exactly the reason why your original argument 3 fails.

If you use the appropriate equation (supplied by ranger), you will find the marble accelerates toward the bowling ball at exactly the same extremely slow rate that the Earth accelerates toward the bowling ball. However, the bowling ball accelerates towards the Earth much faster than that ball accelerates toward the marble.

The (gradient of the) rate* at which the distance closes, between the bowling ball and the earth, is calculated by adding the two accelerations: producing the quantity that conforms with your intuitions (being much faster than the equivalent quantity for just the ball and marble).

(*Really need another word that nicely expresses second derivative.)

LHarriger said:
You know you are in [an accelerating reference frame] because you will observe an inertial force.

In this case this is untrue, and this is what makes scifell's questions so difficult to answer. (According to relativity theory, motion under the force of gravity still counts as inertial.) In a satellite, your hand will fall towards the planet at the same rate that a marble in your hand does, so you can't easily detect the fact that the satellite is circling the planet (or more likely, that they are both circling a point in between, somewhere closer to the bigger one).
 
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  • #12
I don't want to be rude scifell but the formulas that are being introduced, are very simple algebra formulas in which he is merely substituting physical values, in order to give you a physical understanding of what he is explaining.

If you are not able to grasp the mathematics, perhaps you should first develop an understanding of the physics concepts as that might help you more. At the very least, don't denounce the answers given to you, if you don't understand the math that is being introduced in connection with the physics.
 
  • #13
Thanks everyone- I think I understand now. Basically, the answer to my original question ("do objects fall at the same speed?") depends entirely upon what is meant by "fall". If it means the time taken for an object, A, to travel some distance, d, as a result of gravity from another object, B, then yes, all objects fall the same speed. However, if what is meant is how long it takes for objects A and B to come into contact as a result of gravity when starting distance d apart, then the answer is no (due to the fact that object B will also travel some portion of distance d).


Cheers
 
  • #14
linux kid said:
How can the Earth fall towards the object? According to you, if we drop two objects, at exactly opposite sides of the earth, and at exactly the same time, the Earth would have to split in two to reach each object...
Right now, you are being pulled toward the earth, the sun, the moon, Jupiter...

Are you being split into 4+ pieces?

Have you taken geometry yet and learned of the concept of vectors? You can take multiple forces, accelerations, or other vector quantities up and add up the component pieces to make calculating them easier, then add them all together to get a resultant.

Your attitude is really hindering your ability to learn, linux kid. Don't think you already know everything - if someone says something that seems wrong to your preconceptions, try to learn what the explanation is. You need to accept that you need to learn.
 
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  • #15
ranger, I must commend you on your point about the Earth moving towards the object in response to the object's movement to the Earth as an act to conserve momentum.

I've always merely thought about it in Newton's third law. Eg. Force of object on Earth = force of Earth on object.

Edit: Actually conservation of momentum is derived from Newton's third so ok, but still I've never thought of it that way. THanks!
 
  • #16
cesiumfrog said:
In this case this is untrue, and this is what makes scifell's questions so difficult to answer. (According to relativity theory, motion under the force of gravity still counts as inertial.) In a satellite, your hand will fall towards the planet at the same rate that a marble in your hand does.
Cesium, you bring up a good point (this isn't the first time you have corrected an oversight on my part.):blushing:
I was wondering though, if you cannot feel an inertial force when all parts accelerate simultanously (as in gravity) then does this imply that some accelerating reference frames are unmeasurable. Specifically, what if our entire universe had a translational acceleration. Would there ever be any hope of proving this?
 
  • #17
Are you asking how to prove all objects fall at the same rate? With the caveat already discussed about the Earth being pulled toward the object in freefall, plugging Newton's gravity equation into f=ma yields a=f/m=9.8.
 
  • #18
That wasn't quite what I was driving at. I wasn't really clear, the entire subthread related to my question is as follows:

scifell said:
what exactly does it mean to use an "accelerating frame of reference" and how do you know [when I'm] doing that?

LHarriger said:
You know you are in one because you will observe an inertial force. For example, if you place a marble in your hand while accelerating then it will roll in response to this acceleration. If you are simply moving but not accelerating then there lacks any measurable quantity that makes your frame unique.

cesiumfrog said:
In this case this is untrue, and this is what makes scifell's questions so difficult to answer. (According to [general?] relativity theory, motion under the force of gravity still counts as inertial.) In a satellite, your hand will fall towards the planet at the same rate that a marble in your hand does

What caught my attention is that I was taught to consider accelerating reference frames as measurable. This not only resolved problems like the twin paradox (the twin that ages is the one in the rocket ship, and the rocket ship is the one that accelerated because of a measurable inertial force), but also placed accelerating reference frames outside of the reach of special relativity, (ie: since everyone can agree on the magnitude of an inertial force due to an acceleration, this implied that the frame was not relative to another.) Is all of this correct?

Anyways all this made me wonder if acceleration was always a measurable quantity. Cesium's post implies that you cannot alway count on inertial forces as your "yard stick". So in that case what do you rely on. For instance, if the entire universe where undergoing a translational acceleration, would we be able to determine this?

Hope this is now more answerable.:smile:
 
  • #19
No one mentioned a simplification used on the original question.
Newton's gravitational law states that the force(s) between two punctual masses is directly proportional to each mass an inversely proportional to the square of the distance separating them.
The gravitational force produced by any object depends therefore on where it is exerted (what's the distance between the ball and the center of the Earth)

In "free fall" problems some assumptions are commonly made:
1) No air resistance is taken into account. Otherwise the acceleration wouldn't be determined by gravity alone.
2) The frame of reference is taken to be inertial, that is, it's imposed that the Earth has a fixed position in space and the Newton laws are valid in a frame attached to it.
3) The value of the gravitational force doesn't change sensibly within all the range of the fall. It will take a free fall of several kilometers to be able to notice a change on the acceleration.

In the satellital problem (two bodies alone in deep space) the approach is usually to take as reference frame one in which the center of mass is at rest. Since there are not external forces on the system it is supposed to be an inertial frame. Each body attracts the other with the same force, producing different accelerations if the masses are unequal.

In the mentioned site in which the planet mass alone is obtained, probably they have assumed that the planet has a mass so much greater than the satellite's that the center of mass almost overlaps with the (center) of the planet at any given time, allowing to say that the planet is stationary (in the sense that one can attach an inertial frame to it).

----------------------------------------------------
Note on the math: you can 'translate' some formulas to 'daily language' thinking in the products as direct proportionalities and divisions as inverse ones.
 
  • #20
Ignoring air resistance, would two objects with different masses (e.g., a bowling ball and a marble) released from the same height hit the Earth at the same time? Mathematically, the answer is no. The Earth does indeed fall toward the bowling ball or marble while the bowling ball (or marble) is falling toward the Earth. The bowling ball will hit the Earth first.

Physically, the answer to the question is yes. The time difference is immeasurably small.

Ignore everything but the Earth and the bowling ball or marble. Mathematically, the center of the Earth is not an inertial frame because the Earth accelerates toward the bowling ball (or marble). The mathematically correct inertial reference frame is the Earth/bowling ball center of mass frame. This frame is not measurably different from the Earth center of mass frame.

One difference between physics and mathematics is that physicists know to ignore things that don't matter. In this case, even though the Earth is accelerating toward the bowling ball, we can safely ignore that acceleration and treat the center of the Earth as an inertial frame.
 
  • #21
LHarriger said:
if you cannot feel an inertial force when all parts accelerate simultanously (as in gravity) then does this imply that some accelerating reference frames are unmeasurable. Specifically, what if our entire universe had a translational acceleration. Would there ever be any hope of proving this?

In a classical sense, you're asking would we know if there was a really big "floor", far beneath (or in some other direction) any observed galaxies, such that we and the observed universe accelerate uniformly towards this floor?

You're correct that we wouldn't know, provided the force indeed acted on everything evenly (as per the gravitational field of a very very distant construction). Note that if the massive floor wasn't far enough away, we'd notice closer galaxies accelerate faster than those at high altitudes (just like Earth's gravity varies) or we might also expect to detect varying time-dilation. Since astronomers see much the same thing in every direction, such a scenario sounds very contrived and unlikely (hence we apply Occam's razor).
 
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  • #22
D H said:
Ignoring air resistance, would two objects with different masses (e.g., a bowling ball and a marble) released from the same height hit the Earth at the same time? Mathematically, the answer is no. [But "Physically", yes]. The time difference is immeasurably small.

This is wrong.

Mathematically, the gravity of Earth will cause both bodies to accelerate at exactly the same rate (relative to a classical nonaccelerating frame), because they are both the same distance from earth. It is true that the bowling ball's own gravity will apply a greater upward force on the Earth than what the marble's gravity does, however, since the Earth is only one body (not two separate ones) this doesn't matter (we just need remember the Earth is not exactly unaccelerated). At every point in the motion, the balls accelerate at the same rate and so remain side-by-side. Hence, whenever they happen to reach the surface, they both do simultaneously.

That said, if not released "at the same time", then (mathematically and physically, just not practically measurably) the lighter object would take a slightly longer amound of time to fall compared to the amount of time taken if the heavier one were dropped instead. This is because, while either object would initially accelerate to the Earth at the same rate, the Earth will initially accelerate upwards faster for the more massive object, so as to meet it (negligibly) sooner.
 
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  • #23
cesiumfrog said:
This is wrong.

Not quite! The Earth is not flat :wink:
What would happen if the b-ball and the marble are released at the same time, at the same height but one is at the North Pole and the other at the South? (taking in account the negligible acceleration of the Earth; maybe it would be easier to think with spheres of the same size but distinct, although similar, densities...)
 
  • #24
xnick said:
Not quite! The Earth is not flat :wink:
What would happen if the b-ball and the marble are released at the same time, at the same height but one is at the North Pole and the other at the South? (taking in account the negligible acceleration of the Earth; maybe it would be easier to think with spheres of the same size but distinct, although similar, densities...)

Also assuming the Earth is a perfectly smooth sphere.. :P
The bball would hit sooner. The two objects would create force vectors, which when added, would result in a net vector toward the more massive object (the bball). Thus the Earth would accelerate towards the more massive object, meaning they collide sooner. Technically, mind you. I'd like to see you measure the diffference. :P
 
  • #25
Ignoring air friction and other forces acting on the object other than gravity. All objects will hit the ground at the same time.

Well, we can find the speed of objects going towards each other =). However, we cannot "drop" the Earth on a bowling ball. Simply because gravity is a force that pulls =). The Earth will have more of an influence.

It's like saying a little tiny man and a big buff man. The tiny man trying to pull the big man (ball trying to pull the planet). Not going to happen, however the other way around it works better. Simply because the force of gravity is stronger =). If it's weaker, it's just going to not do much.

The force of gravity can be shown as the Gravity Constant -> 6.67x10^-11 Newton meters squared over kilograms squared.

- G * mass of object * mass of second object / radius squared (from center to center) = the Force.
 
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  • #26
AngeloG said:
Ignoring air friction and other forces acting on the object other than gravity. All objects will hit the ground at the same time.

Well, we can find the speed of objects going towards each other =). However, we cannot "drop" the Earth on a bowling ball. Simply because gravity is a force that pulls =). The Earth will have more of an influence.

It's like saying a little tiny man and a big buff man. The tiny man trying to pull the big man (ball trying to pull the planet). Not going to happen, however the other way around it works better. Simply because the force of gravity is stronger =). If it's weaker, it's just going to not do much.

The force of gravity can be shown as the Gravity Constant -> 6.67x10^-11 Newton meters squared over kilograms squared.

- G * mass of object * mass of second object / radius squared (from center to center) = the Force.

Your statements need more precision.
The forces on each of the two objects in Newton's gravitation law are EQUAL (in magnitude an opposite in direction). Therefore the more massive object accelerates less than its partner. But beware of what do you mean with "pull": there's only ONE distance between the two objects.
Nevertheless, the planet will be 'moving' (i.e. accelerating) but at an unmeasurable rate.
 
  • #27
Ignoring air resistance, would two objects with different masses (e.g., a bowling ball and a marble) released from the same height hit the Earth at the same time? Mathematically, the answer is no. The Earth does indeed fall toward the bowling ball or marble while the bowling ball (or marble) is falling toward the Earth. The bowling ball will hit the Earth first.

If your bowling ball stays at Earth while you drop the marble, the bowling ball will drag the marble with it. And then when you drop the bowlingball, the Earth will be a bowling ball lighter, making it fall "slower". The acceleration would not be different if the marble stayed on Earth while you dropped the bowling ball, and if the bowling ball stayed at Earth while you dropped the marble.

But if you made a bowling ball and a marble at moon, and then took the objects to Earth one by one, and putting them back at the moon after you had checked it. So that when you tested the marble, the bowling ball stayed at the moon, and when you tested the bowlingball the marble stayed at the moon. Then there would be difference (excluding external gravitational forces from other planets\(moon))
 
  • #28
Scifell, I have been reading your thread and you are coming up with some very interesting and logical questions but the answers you are getting sound like my namesake, "smoke and mirrors". It usually sounds like someone spinning a yarn. They are not backing it up with mathematics. You are right about taking the bowling ball to the moon and to the earth. The Earth will fall faster, proving that heavier bodies fall faster. You are exactly right. And Artistotle was right also. This is because "g" is not a constant. It is only a constant at the surface of the earth. But "g" can be measured at any altitude and it will be different. But the surface of the Earth is the only place it can be measured because the scientific apparatus that is used to measure "g" has to sit on something; it can't be floating in space. Remember, "g" is an experimental (empirical) value and is arrived at by experiment. You cannot assume it equals (a) from F = ma. (a) is an inertial (absolute) value. But (g) is a relative value just as you said. If the apparatus is sitting on the Earth that is moving toward the bowling ball, it is measuring the acceleration of the Earth toward the bowling bowl plus the acceleration of the bowling ball toward the earth. Therefore g = a + a' and with a little algebra you can show that g = G(m + m')/R^2. This is why all bodies fall at the same rate; because as you pick up a rock, the Earth gets smaller but the quantity (m + m') stays constant, therefore "g" is constant. All objects that originate from the Earth fall back at the same rate. This is why Galileo was confused. But if the object comes from outer space (holding the Earth constant) the heavier object will fall faster. This is what you already proved with the bowling ball and the earth/moon example. All I can say to you is "Keep up the good fight", and if you're not satisfied with the answers you get, keep asking them. You will eventually get the TRUTH.
...Smoke/mirrors.
 
  • #29
I am eagerly awaiting responses to this post above me. <3
 
  • #30
I, too, would like to hear different opinions about this explanation. I will go into more detail later. It has many surprising implications.
 
  • #31
Uh, well, basically you misunderstood everything that was discussed in the thread and then added more misunderstandings to that. Essentially everything in that post is wrong. I really don't feel like going through the whole thing again right now, but maybe later. For a start, you can try rereading the thread a little more carefully...

Anyway, haven't you ever seen the lab experiment with a feather and a rock in an evacuated glass cylinder? Saying that small objects fall to the Earth at the same rate is correct to within a few billionths of a percent for virtually all scenarios anyone ever sees. You've allowed a mostly irrelevant caveat to confuse you.
 
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  • #32
Ok...
Smoke/mirrors said:
You are right about taking the bowling ball to the moon and to the earth. The Earth will fall faster, proving that heavier bodies fall faster.
Reread those two sentences. Where's the heavier body if you are asking only about the acceleration of the earth? The Earth will fall faster towards a heavier object than a lighter one, but a heavier object will not fall towards Earth faster than a lighter one (as seen from a stationary reference frame). All you've done is confuse yourself here...
You are exactly right. And Artistotle was right also.
No and no. Aristotle believed that acceleration due to gravity of an object toward Earth (using Earth as the reference frame) was directly proportional to the mass of the object. That isn't even true in your horribly twisted scenario.
This is because "g" is not a constant. It is only a constant at the surface of the earth. But "g" can be measured at any altitude and it will be different.
No. The variation of g with altitude is irrelevant here because the problem involves two objects that are both at the same distance from earth.
But the surface of the Earth is the only place it can be measured because the scientific apparatus that is used to measure "g" has to sit on something; it can't be floating in space. Remember, "g" is an experimental (empirical) value and is arrived at by experiment.
No. You can calculate it from the speed of an orbiting spacecraft , or measure it from a plane, among other things.
You cannot assume it equals (a) from F = ma. (a) is an inertial (absolute) value. But (g) is a relative value just as you said.
If it didn't, f=ma would be wrong... What you are missing is that g changes with altitude because F changes with altitude. And while I already said this is irrelevant for this discussion, if you want to play with it, you can easily use Newton's gravitation equation to calculate variations in g with altitude by plugging it into f=ma.
If the apparatus is sitting on the Earth that is moving toward the bowling ball, it is measuring the acceleration of the Earth toward the bowling bowl plus the acceleration of the bowling ball toward the earth.
Yes! However, I don't think there is a device anywhere on Earth sensitive enough to differentiate those two accelerations.
Therefore g = a + a' and with a little algebra you can show that g = G(m + m')/R^2.
Not sure about what you did with that equation, but the way I would do it is to simply calculate two different accelrations with f=ma. Newton's gravity equation gives you one force and you have two different masses.
This is why all bodies fall at the same rate; because as you pick up a rock, the Earth gets smaller but the quantity (m + m') stays constant, therefore "g" is constant.
That has nothing to do with anything. This discussion works fine if you take a spaceship and fly it to another planet.
All objects that originate from the Earth fall back at the same rate. This is why Galileo was confused. But if the object comes from outer space (holding the Earth constant) the heavier object will fall faster. This is what you already proved with the bowling ball and the earth/moon example.
Whoa, back up a sec. Above, you said Aristotle was right. Aristotle said that the acceleration due to gravity was directly proportional to mass for small objects on earth. That is most certainly not true.

All you are really proving by bringing up the idea of picking up a rock is that the caveat we've been discussing here is useless. As I said before, for small objects like rocks and bowling balls and feathers, the difference in acceleration due to gravity if you include the Earth's acceleration or not is so small that it won't even fit in the decimal places available in your calculator and should be ignored for that reason. Only when the smaller object is perhaps .1% of the mass of the larger one or larger, does that effect become even measurable, much less important enough to actually calculate.
 
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  • #33
Hi, Watters. Scifell made some very profound observations in his first post and I can't help but agree with him. He may think he is an ignorant fool, but I, for one, don't think so. I think he is more savvy than all the people that argued against him in this thread. He understands relative acceleration and has a keen perspective on physical processes. With a little math background, he is bound to go places. He was right in questioning all three of his observations. I will stick to what I said. "All bodies that originate from the Earth will fall back to the Earth at the same rate. All bodies that originate from outer space will fall faster." The equation I developed will prove that when you plug in the numbers for the Earth (m') and the bowling ball (m). It also works for the moon and the bowling ball. It works for any two bodies in space. Here it is again

*** g = G(m + m')/R^2 ***

Try it. Aristotle was RIGHT. Galileo was only HALF RIGHT. And Scifell wass RIGHT TOO!
 

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