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submitted 1 year ago by Jeredin@lemm.ee to c/askscience@lemmy.world

I've read that at the center of large celestial bodies there's zero gravity (or close to). While confirmation would be nice, if true, I'm wondering how large that area can actually be and moreover, does it scale up with more mass and/or even size - that is, does the sun have a larger center area of low (zero?) gravity than the earth and so on with evermore mass. Or is that area the same regardless of mass' size?

Thank you

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[-] jet@hackertalks.com 1 points 1 year ago

Depends what you're trying to do. If you want to balance something so it never moves you can only use the exact center. If you want something to stay relatively in the center for a period of hours then you're going to have a much larger area. If you're okay with minutes it's going to be much much larger area. If it needs to be stable for years in the area is smaller. Gravity is going to apply a force of acceleration and on an object, and if there's nothing resisting that acceleration things will just fall off the center. You know imagine trying to balance something on top of a cone.

[-] Jeredin@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

My original question stemmed from thinking about the possible different area sizes of low gravity within different size stars - and if that area was gradient.

this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2023
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