Imagine if the earth had no gravity3/2/2023 ![]() ![]() The force of gravity acting upon your body is not a contact force it is often categorized as an action-at-a-distance force. Contact forces can only result from the actual touching of the two interacting objects - in this case, the chair and you. This normal force is categorized as a contact force. The upward chair force is sometimes referred to as a normal force and results from the contact between the chair top and your bottom end. As you sit in a chair, you experience two forces - the force of the Earth's gravitational field pulling you downward toward the Earth and the force of the chair pushing you upward. And as you consider the following alternative conception about the meaning of weightlessness, evaluate the reasonableness and logic of the two competing ideas.īefore understanding weightlessness, we will have to review two categories of forces - contact forces and action-at-a-distance forces. So if you do have a preconception (or a strong preconception) about what weightlessness is, you need to be aware of that preconceived idea. Put another way: it's not what you don't know that makes learning physics a difficult task it's what you do know that makes learning physics a difficult task. ![]() As is the case on many topics in Physics, some unlearning must first be done before doing the learning. If you believe in any one of the above statements, then it might take a little rearrangement and remapping of your brain to understand the real cause of weightlessness. Continue reading this part of Lesson 4 to find out the real reason. None of these are appropriate reasons for the weightless sensations experienced by orbiting astronauts. the astronauts are far from Earth's surface at a location where gravitation has a minimal effect. space is a vacuum and there is no air resistance in a vacuum.ĭ. space is a vacuum and there is no gravity in a vacuum.Ĭ. there is no gravity in space and they do not weigh anything.ī. Test your preconceived notions about weightlessness:Īstronauts on the orbiting space station are weightless because. ![]() Consider the following multiple choice question about weightlessness as a test of your preconceived notions on the topic: However, the stubbornness of one's preconceptions on the topic often stand in the way of one's ability to understand. The cause of weightlessness is quite simple to understand. Unfortunately however, many people have difficulty understanding the causes of weightlessness. Not only are the sensations the same (for astronauts and roller coaster riders), but the causes of those sensations of weightlessness are also the same. These sensations experienced by orbiting astronauts are the same sensations experienced by anyone who has been temporarily suspended above the seat on an amusement park ride. Astronauts who are orbiting the Earth often experience sensations of weightlessness. ![]()
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