Daft question about gravity

E

elefantfresh

Registered User
Messages
450
If you think about it logically, the further you get away from the earth, the less the effect of gravity right? So if i were to stand at the top of Everest, the effect would be less than at sea level yes?
Right so, if i drill a hole down into the earth (disregarding the molten lava and rocks and logistics and stuff) how far down could i actually go before the gravity would be such that i'd be squashed?
This questions really bringing me down ;)
 
The gravitational force comes from the mass so you would be attracted towards the mass. Hence I think you would be weightless if you are at a position where the forces pulling outwards balance . Either that or you'd be torn apart instead of squashed ;)


(disregarding such things as life support and logistics etc )
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth's_gravity#Altitude


"Gravity decreases with altitude, since greater altitude means greater distance from the Earth's centre. All other things being equal, an increase in altitude from sea level to the top of Mount Everest (8,850 metres) causes a weight decrease of about 0.28%. (An additional factor affecting apparent weight is the decrease in air density at altitude, which lessens an object's buoyancy.[3]) It is a common misconception that astronauts in orbit are weightless because they have flown high enough to "escape" the Earth's gravity. In fact, at an altitude of 250 miles (roughly the height that the Space Shuttle flies) gravity is still nearly 90% as strong as at the Earth's surface, and weightlessness actually occurs because orbiting objects are in free-fall.
If the Earth was of perfectly uniform composition then, during a descent to the centre of the Earth, gravity would decrease linearly with distance, reaching zero at the centre. In reality, the gravitational field peaks within the Earth at the core-mantle boundary where it has a value of 10.7 m/s²."



So you get lighter as you go into the earth or beyond the core-mantle boundary anyway? I can only presume that this is because there is less mass below you so the effects of gravity are less.

Acccording to this, you will never be crushed flat. So you will have to stick to the old foot-stomping method to crush tinnies...
 
Man, thats a long way down to lose some weight!
According to this picture [broken link removed]
its about 2700Km. Better bring a packed lunch.
 
I think that all questions have now been asked on AAM so we can safely close it down. :)
 
ClubMan said:
I think that all questions have now been asked on AAM so we can safely close it down. :)
Click to expand...


I'd like to know more about MRI scans ;)



actually if you drilled a hole through the earth and then fell in , what happens is actually a pendulum motion,.. you would be accelerating until you reached the center of earth,.. then deaccelerating until coming to a standstill at the other side of the hole ;)
 
sign said:
actually if you drilled a hole through the earth and then fell in , what happens is actually a pendulum motion,.. you would be accelerating until you reached the center of earth,.. then deaccelerating until coming to a standstill at the other side of the hole ;)
Click to expand...
But then you would fall back in and keep going from one side to the other.
 
I think that all questions have now been asked on AAM so we can safely close it down. :)
Click to expand...

But what about rifts in the space time continuum and does Mr Spock use extra large cotton buds ? Surely these must warrant serious debate before AAM closes .
 
Purple said:
But then you would fall back in and keep going from one side to the other.
Click to expand...

It could be perpetual motion but it would have to be from north pole to south pole,...otherwise the rotation would mess it up

Graham_07 said:
But what about rifts in the space time continuum and does Mr Spock use extra large cotton buds ? Surely these must warrant serious debate before AAM closes .
Click to expand...

I can answer why they only have headshots of Captain Kirk in the latest trek movie. It's coz they dont wanna show the zimmer frame on cam ;)
 
Yep indeed there is. It doesn't have an official title yet, just called "Star Trek XI" for the moment. Director from Mission Impossible III is doing it.

It's a prequel and supposedly Matt Damon will be playing Kirk. Not sure who will play Spock though.
 
No way could our former Justice Minister play the Borg. The Borg have a lot more character than that. Anyway the Borg want to assimilate you, he wanted to enslave us.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top