Gravity & Inertia: Proportional to Mass?

  • Thread starter Thread starter deechan
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Gravity Inertia
AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on the relationship between gravitational force, mass, and inertia. It questions how gravitational force can be proportional to mass if inertia opposes changes in a body's state. A participant points out a logical flaw in the initial reasoning, comparing it to measuring debt in currency. The conversation shifts to acknowledge that the principles of force, including F=ma, apply to various forces beyond gravity. The exchange concludes with a realization about the broader applicability of these concepts.
deechan
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
If force is something that changes the state of a body and inertia is opposition to change of state how can gravitational force be proportional to mass?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
deechan said:
If force is something that changes the state of a body and inertia is opposition to change of state how can gravitational force be proportional to mass?

Why can't it?

There's a fault in your logic here. It's as if you're asking "If having money is considered as wealth, then when I go in debt, why do they measure my debt in {insert currency here}?"

Furthermore, why restrict this to just gravitational force? Are you saying that you understand why F=ma is OK for other types of forces?

Zz.
 
Oh!I didn't think of other forces at all.I think I get it now.Thank you.
 
The rope is tied into the person (the load of 200 pounds) and the rope goes up from the person to a fixed pulley and back down to his hands. He hauls the rope to suspend himself in the air. What is the mechanical advantage of the system? The person will indeed only have to lift half of his body weight (roughly 100 pounds) because he now lessened the load by that same amount. This APPEARS to be a 2:1 because he can hold himself with half the force, but my question is: is that mechanical...
Hello everyone, Consider the problem in which a car is told to travel at 30 km/h for L kilometers and then at 60 km/h for another L kilometers. Next, you are asked to determine the average speed. My question is: although we know that the average speed in this case is the harmonic mean of the two speeds, is it also possible to state that the average speed over this 2L-kilometer stretch can be obtained as a weighted average of the two speeds? Best regards, DaTario
Some physics textbook writer told me that Newton's first law applies only on bodies that feel no interactions at all. He said that if a body is on rest or moves in constant velocity, there is no external force acting on it. But I have heard another form of the law that says the net force acting on a body must be zero. This means there is interactions involved after all. So which one is correct?
Back
Top