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submitted 5 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] brown567@sh.itjust.works 111 points 5 months ago

This is fascinating! Both of them accelerate toward the earth at the same rate, but because of the bowling ball's greater mass, the EARTH accelerates faster toward the bowling ball than it does toward the feather, so it's imperceptibly faster XD

[-] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 26 points 5 months ago

But they are being dropped at the same time for dramatic effect, so the earth will also be accelerating towards the feather at bowling ball speeds because the feather is next to the bowling ball, therefore they still land at the same time.

[-] Dwomen@lemmy.dbzer0.com 32 points 5 months ago

That’s only be true if the feather was in the same position as the ball. Otherwise, the earth is moving ever so slightly more towards the ball.

[-] mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 5 months ago

You are forgetting the sun. The earth turns in the direction of sun ever so slightly so if you align the feather next to the ball in the side of the sun, then probably the feather falls faster

[-] dumbass@leminal.space 5 points 5 months ago

So, what you're saying is, to do this experiment correctly, we have to stop the earth from moving. . I'm keen.

[-] clickyello@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago

🎵 I'll stop the world and melt with you 🎵

[-] lauha@lemmy.one 10 points 5 months ago

No, because the earth is accelerating towards the bowling ball and the feather is next to the bowling ball, the force vector is (ever so slightly) greater towards the bowling ball than the feather, thus the bowling ball drops faster

[-] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 months ago

Yeah I thought about it and I guess I'm wrong. I thought that maybe the ball still wouldn't be faster if there was a perfectly flat surface for both objects to land on, but I imagined how it would be if the bowling ball and feather were actually very far apart, and of course they wouldn't be travelling perpendicular to the platform, and the path of the feather would follow more of a curve. So a slight distance would be the same thing just less.

[-] iz_ok@lemmynsfw.com 10 points 5 months ago

Can someone explain how the Earth accelerates towards an object? Is this just because objects with mass attract things?

[-] candybrie@lemmy.world 15 points 5 months ago

You got it.

[-] mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 5 months ago

Yes. And that force is proportional to acceleration so it accelerates earth

[-] kuberoot@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 5 months ago

In the same way that earth has gravity that attracts objects, the objects have gravity that attracts earth. See also Newton's third law, also known as "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." - for the earth to attract something, the earth also has to be attracted with the same force. It's just that the earth has a lot more mass, so the force barely accelerates it.

[-] Breve@pawb.social 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

The gravitational force equation actually takes into account the mass of both objects and their distance. The only reason we can throw out a gravitational constant of 9.81m/s^2 for most objects on Earth is because the mass of the Earth is so large that the mass and/or distance of the other object would have to be equally large in order to make any significant change in that value. Technically though, a bowling ball at sea level falls slightly faster than a bowling ball at the top of Everest, as does a bowling ball and feather from the same height. The reason is more accurately that they are experiencing slightly higher or lower gravitational forces, which cause them to accelerate (in conjunction with all the other forces acting on them).