this post was submitted on 28 May 2024
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Science Memes

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Falling (mander.xyz)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] pikmeir 238 points 1 month ago (10 children)

For anyone wondering it's because the bowling ball slightly pulls the earth faster toward itself. This amount is too small to possibly measure. But imagine if the bowling ball were the size of another Earth and it's easier to see why it happens.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (4 children)

But being more massive means that due to inertia the ball will take just a tiny little wee bit longer to start moving no? So they end up falling at the same time.

Also, are these Newtonian mechanics? How do they compare to relativity at the "bowling ball and feather" scale?

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. It's been a while since I read anything physics-related.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The acceleration from gravity would be the same no matter the object mass (~9.8m/s²).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Oh yes! I omitted that part, but what I meant to say is that mass and inertia balance each other, so that in the end the acceleration from gravity ends up the same for any object.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

The bowling ball will still pull the Earth more. For us, everything accelerates at 9.8m/s² (because we all fall to the same Earth), but the Earth accelerates differently per attracting object.

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