Science Memes

11404 readers

1340 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.

Rules

Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
Keep it rooted (on topic).
No spam.
Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.

Research Committee

[email protected]

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

247

ur dada so buff he falls significantly faster than g (mander.xyz)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

126 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Tap for spoiler

The bowling ball isn’t falling to the earth faster. The higher perceived acceleration is due to the earth falling toward the bowling ball.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Shard 48 points 1 month ago (1 children)

So will the bowling ball gravitationally attract the earth to itself there by reach the earth an infinitesimally small amount?

[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yes, the earth accelerates toward the ball faster than it does toward the feather.

[–] SzethFriendOfNimi 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Wouldn’t this be equally offset by the increase in inertia from their masses?

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

If your bowling ball is twice as massive, the force between it and earth will be twice as strong. But the ball’s mass will also be twice as large, so the ball’s acceleration will remain the same. This is why g=9.81m/s^2 is the same for every object on earth.

But the earth’s acceleration would not remain the same. The force doubles, but the mass of earth remains constant, so the acceleration of earth doubles.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I wonder how many frames per... picosecond you'd need to capture that on camera... And what zoom level you'd need to see it.

I think the roughness of the surface of the bowling ball would have a bigger impact on the time, in that the surface might be closer at some points if it were to rotate while falling.

[–] WhatAmLemmy 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Considering the mass of the ~~earth~~ (?) moon, I wouldn't be surprised if it'd be nearly impossible to capture a difference between a feather or bowling ball. You might have to release them at 100m or 1000m above the surface, but then maybe the moons miniscule atmosphere or density variances will have more of an effect.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

But if you're dropping them at the same time right next to each other, the earth is so large they would functionally be one object and pull the earth at the same combined acceleration.