Friday, May 30, 2008

Gravity

So, I was sitting in my bed the other night and for some bizarre reason, I started thinking about gravity and how it works. I'll try to recall my thoughts in chronological order:

I started with thinking about gravity in general, and how it brings things to the ground. You know, standard stuff; you throw something in the air, it comes back to the ground. But why? Once you get into space, you just float, you don't fall to the ground. Also, because I have a physics background, I know that gravity's forces get weaker the further you are from the surface of earth, to the point where you simply float, like once you get out of the atmosphere, where earth's gravity doesn't effect you anymore. So I was thinking that the closer you get to the center of the earth, the stronger they must get, so assuming you could reach the center of the earth, you might not be able to overcome the force of gravity, meaning you couldn't move, or at the least, couldn't jump, and might be forced to lay on the ground, if you aren't crushed. Now that I think about it, kind of like if you were to get deep in the ocean. You can only go so deep before you are crushed by the pressure, so yeah, kind of like that perhaps.

Then I thought about how gravity is weaker on the moon. Everyone has seen the video of how they bounce on the moon and such. Why exactly is this? Obviously, I don't know, but I assumed it is because the moon is smaller than the earth, so bigger objects create larger forces of gravity.

Back to the previous thought about the atmosphere, why is it even there? I'm not a 100% sure on what the atmosphere is made of, but I'm pretty sure its mostly O3. Anyhoo, how'd it get there? Well, it all goes back to gravity, I mused. These particles got caught up by earth's gravity and can't escape the force, so they stay there, creating a protective barrier at just the spot where earth's gravity losses its effects. Sure, why not?

Then I starting thinking though, isn't the moon also caught in the earth's gravitational pull? That would mean that the atmosphere isn't the end of earth's hold over the universe...sooo, why doesn't the moon just come crashing into the earth's crust? Why does it float there, just chillin'? Well, maybe it's similar to magnetism? Like I said, I have a basic physics background. But yeah, I'm sure you've played with magnets at some point in time in your life and had super fun. Now, if it were pure magnetism, then the theory would fall about, but maybe its just SIMILAR to magnetism, in some respects. Anyhoo yeah, maybe somehow the earth and moon have dissimilar pulls, so they deflect each other and push each other away, as oppose to attract and pull. (In other words, becaue I don't feel like rewording, they have the same polarity, so they repel.) However, then the moon could just fly away, so maybe something is keeping it in place; the sun? The sun IS the center of our solar system, so maybe it has the overall gravitational pull that keeps most thinks in line, in its orbit. That would probably mean that earth makes a full circle around the sun faster than a further away planet, like pluto, even though I guess pluto isn't even a planet anymore, but whatever, due to its greater gravitational force via the sun.

Ummm...Oh yeah, so, if you compare it like it is, the moon and the earth, then you could say it is similar to the basic building blocks of life, the atom and its sub-atomic particles. Just think about any image of an atom you've seen back in your schoolage days. You have your protons and neutrons in the middle, with electrons circling them. Sound familiar? You have these negative things with opposite polarity from the things in the middle. If you didn't know for some reason, + attracts -, so protons attract electrons, yet the electrons circle the middle, as opposed to be stuck in the center with the rest of the stuff. Why is this? Well, if I was a physicst or chemist I would probably be able to tell you, but if that were the case, I would probably already know how gravity works, so w/e. It probably has something to do with all the electrons and how they repel each other, just like the protons, which is why the neutrons are there.

Anyhoo, extrapulating that model, the smallest model possible, the very building blocks of EVERYTHING, you can come up with that of gravity. Same thing, pretty much, except on a bigger scale. Maybe? Sure.


I think that's about it for my musing. I really hope you didn't read all that.






Hmmmm, just looked at this image:



Which makes sense, as we only see one side of the moon, always, in the history of existence, sure, we've only seen the one side of the moon. The moon doesn't rotate. Therefore, perhaps gravity is an effect of rotation. Then why does the moon have gravity? Well, maybe it's simply centripetal force. Well, I guess that would explain the moon, but not gravity overall. What's the tether that keeps the moon in place? anyhoo, if you don't know what centripetal force is, just look at the above picture, which nicely represents as I just recognized. Also, it's like when you are in a car, going at high speeds and take a sharp turn. You are pulled to one side, the opposite side of the turn. Just like if you are on a roller coaster or other ride that goes in a circle. you are pulled to one side...pulled....like gravity. Think about it. The force goes toward the center, so maybe that force is gravity.



Ok....I'm done.

2 comments:

JDW said...

i read... all of it.

ZPotts said...

Is that why your avator seems displeased?