Gravity with Brian Cox

spark240

Cool experiment..

Nitefly

Brilliant!

I didn't get the last bit though, where he was on about Einstein, saying that they weren't moving at all?  It bloody looked like they were!

LuttiS

 Brian

Bridgehouse

Nitefly said:

Brilliant!

I didn't get the last bit though, where he was on about Einstein, saying that they weren't moving at all?  It bloody looked like they were!

Einstein made a mental leap that to be fair is pretty difficult to get your head round

Gravity isn't a force - it's a warping of space-time. As such, any object at rest on the ground (apparently) is in free-fall towards the centre of the earth - only the ground is in the way..

Funkfingers

The planet is also gravitationally attracted to the bowling ball and the feathers - albeit by a very, very small amount.

MrBump

That's pretty darned awesome.

Although it does make me wonder - given that the vast majority of our existence is like the vacuum of that test centre, how the f**k are any of us alive in the first place?!?!

Danny1969

The mass of the earth has "curved" the fabric of space (AND) time .... to the point even something that should normally shine straight like a light beam will be bent by gravity ....... it was an eclipse that proved his theory, the massive gravity of the sun bending the light from a star only viewable during an eclipse.

Gravity (and speed) also affect time .... to the point your Sat nav triangle system needs to take this into account otherwise you would quickly be of course within a few miles ... as time moves faster for the orbiting satellites due to their speed and the lower gravity orbiting above the earth 

Funkfingers

Multiple choice answers:
1) It is the divine will of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
2) We got lucky.
3) 42.

ICBM

The Weak Anthropic Principle.

ie it's only in a universe (and in a part of it) capable of supporting life, that life will be able to evolve and understand that it does, AKA a self-fulfilling condition of our existence.

Bridgehouse

Einstein's real genius was way back at the start of the 20th century he managed to work out that gravity and acceleration are the same as far as us mere humans are concerned. 

So weightlessness in space (in orbit) is just constant freefall. Or something like that.







Either that or it's BS he made up for the US government and the earth is, in fact, flat.

Bridgehouse

ICBM said:

The Weak Anthropic Principle.

ie it's only in a universe (and in a part of it) capable of supporting life, that life will be able to evolve and understand that it does, AKA a self-fulfilling condition of our existence.

You mean like light only acts as particles when its measured as such by us?

ChuckManual

"Keep the camera on me, Barry..."

Cirrus

Bridgehouse said:

So weightlessness in space (in orbit) is just constant freefall. Or something like that.

Like lots of kids I wanted to be an astronaut. Then one day I realised what being in orbit must actually be like. "Weightlessness" doesn't feel like floating around all serenely. It's literally the same as falling. Falling constantly for months at a time. Fuck that.

Bridgehouse

Cirrus said:

Bridgehouse said:

So weightlessness in space (in orbit) is just constant freefall. Or something like that.

Like lots of kids I wanted to be an astronaut. Then one day I realised what being in orbit must actually be like. "Weightlessness" doesn't feel like floating around all serenely. It's literally the same as falling. Falling constantly for months at a time. Fuck that.

I'd never be able to finish a sentence.. "Can someone pass me the saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.."

etc..

ICBM

Bridgehouse said:

You mean like light only acts as particles when its measured as such by us?

No - basically, it's the answer to the question "isn't it remarkably lucky that the Earth happens to be such a perfect planet for life?"

No. It's not lucky at all, it's a certainty because if it wasn't then we wouldn't be here to wonder about it! When you think about it, it's so obvious that it doesn't really need formulating into a principle, but that's philosophers for you...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic_principle

Bridgehouse

ICBM said:

Bridgehouse said:

You mean like light only acts as particles when its measured as such by us?

No - basically, it's the answer to the question "isn't it remarkably lucky that the Earth happens to be such a perfect planet for life?"

No. It's not lucky at all, it's a certainty because if it wasn't then we wouldn't be here to wonder about it! When you think about it, it's so obvious that it doesn't really need formulating into a principle, but that's philosophers for you...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic_principle

Yeah, you're right - that's a crap principle.

I would have preferred a bears shitting in woods/trees making a noise/particles acting hooky one over a crappy "life only exists in places where the life there can define it as being suitable for life" one...

Bygone_Tones

We're all living in a computer simulation anyway. Generated by our technologically advanced ancestors. Elon Musk says so, so it must be true:

https://futurism.com/are-we-living-in-a-computer-simulation-elon-musk-thinks-so/

Emp_Fab

Funkfingers said:

The planet is also gravitationally attracted to the bowling ball and the feathers - albeit by a very, very small amount.

Does that mean the whole planet is also gravitationally attracted to my ball(s) ?  Wow....   that's some masculinity affirming shit right there....  I'm pulling the entire planet Earth with my bollocks.

Yeah baby !

Phil_aka_Pip

Bygone_Tones said:

We're all living in a computer simulation anyway. Generated by Deep Thought, for the, er, mice.

 Douglas Adams says so, so it must be true:

fixed

sinbaadi

I doubt you ever pulled with your bollocks.

Bridgehouse

Emp_Fab said:

Funkfingers said:

The planet is also gravitationally attracted to the bowling ball and the feathers - albeit by a very, very small amount.

Does that mean the whole planet is also gravitationally attracted to my ball(s) ?  Wow....   that's some masculinity affirming shit right there....  I'm trolling the entire Fretboard with my bollocks.

Yeah baby !

FTFY