Would You Float or Stretch in a Hollow Sphere at Earth's Center?

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In a hypothetical hollow sphere at Earth's center, the gravitational forces from the surrounding mass would cancel out, resulting in zero net gravitational pull on an object inside. This means that a person would float without experiencing any stretching or compression due to gravity, as all points in the hollow experience equal force in all directions. Discussions highlighted that while individual body parts might attract each other, the overall effect within the hollow sphere is a uniform zero gravitational field. The concept aligns with Newton's shell theorem, which states that a spherically symmetric shell exerts no net gravitational force inside it. Thus, in this scenario, one would simply float without any stretching effects.
  • #31
Doc Al said:
You should be able to find it discussed in most classical mechanics books (or calculus books, for that matter). Here's a site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_theorem"

Thank you very much
 
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