proving a point about physics

Discussion in 'General Chatter' started by blue, Feb 1, 2017.

  1. blue

    blue hightown funk you up

    Ok, hello, you are not a very good random sample but if you are seeing this could you comment with:

    Do you know the relationship between gravitational force and the distance between the objects involved, when everything else is held constant? That is, what function of distance it is that gravitational force is proportional to?

    And also your age (approximate is fine).


    In a spoiler, here is the relationship I mean:
    The fact that gravity is proportional to the inverse square of the distance, or 1/r^2
     
    • Like x 1
  2. sirsparklepants

    sirsparklepants feral mom energies

    I'm 23 and not the first clue, but I dumped physics in favor of anatomy and physiology in school.
     
  3. electroTelegram

    electroTelegram Well-Known Member

    i failed the only physics class i ever took but:

    hmm. iirc it's possible to get far enough away from something that its gravity no longer affects you......... so strength of gravity is probably increased/decreased (proportional?) based on how close you are (when everything else is unchanging) to the [thing that everything is going around]

    college aged.

    edit: spelling
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2017
  4. Mala

    Mala Well-Known Member

    I should know because I was a physics major but I'm terrible at remembering formulas and specific relationships off the top of my head
     
  5. garden

    garden lucid dreamer

    i may have learned it at some point but right now i'm just at a vague "the farther away you get the less the gravity of an object affects you??"

    i am 20; i haven't taken any physics since the one class in high school (i was 17) and also i hated that class, it made me cry on the regular (though thankfully not in the classroom itself.)
     
  6. context-free anon

    context-free anon Well-Known Member

    i'm 26 and i don't know but i'd guess the force is the inverse cube of the distance

    edit: gdi it's inverse square. so close
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2017
  7. Newlyread

    Newlyread Killer Queen

    I'm 33 and what is this
     
    • Like x 3
    • Agree x 1
  8. rats

    rats 21 Bright Forge Shatters The Void

    im 18 and i do know! but then, i may be an outlier adn shouldnt be counted because....im a phsyics major currently in university and doing research n shit...........
     
    • Like x 1
  9. blue

    blue hightown funk you up

    I insisted to my friend that this was common knowledge and apparently I was incorrect :P
     
    • Like x 4
  10. electroTelegram

    electroTelegram Well-Known Member

    i have a Q: does gravity happen on a small scale? am i like the sun for tiny little specks of universe?

    (is there a better place to put this?)
     
  11. LadyNighteyes

    LadyNighteyes Wicked Witch of the Radiant Historia Fandom

    Everything in the universe exerts some gravitational force on everything else, but Earth's gravity outweighs (hur hur) pretty much everything else for things on the planet.
     
    • Like x 1
  12. palindromordnilap

    palindromordnilap Well-Known Member

    I do know, and I'm supposed to be a first year biology major but going to change that next year to either English or media communication.
     
  13. rats

    rats 21 Bright Forge Shatters The Void

    @blue yeah no id say that thats definitely only something youd really retain if you enjoyed physics and did it on the regular, which... is not a huge group of the population :P
     
    • Like x 1
  14. i'm the friend and i am VERY VINDICATED : P
     
    • Like x 3
  15. blue

    blue hightown funk you up

    i would say BEGONE FROM MY THREAD!! but i did vote in your twitter poll on the subject
     
    • Like x 3
  16. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

    What level of physics are we talking about? Like, high-school physics? College-physics? Physics grad-school physics? Post-doc physics? Because the answer is different depending.
    In particular, I guess what I really mean is naive Newtonian, somewhat-less-naive Newtonian, General Relativistic, and "we don't know what goes here but it must be really weird".
    The corresponding answers being "force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance", "force is approximately inversely proportional to the square of the distance if our mass is compact enough", "we don't really have good exact solutions for spacetimes including non-idealized masses, but if you'll allow us to make the following simplifying assumptions then we can at least create some numerical approximations in which..." and "what is gravity" respectively.

    Also I am currently 28, but this is subject to change as soon as the paperwork goes through, which I expect to occur in a number of months.
     
    • Like x 2
  17. a tiny mushroom

    a tiny mushroom the tiniest

    I'm 22 and I remember learning that like... every object has gravity and draws other objects towards in, and that the greater the mass the larger the gravity. But that's all I remember.
     
  18. the current status of this extremely scientific twitter poll, in case anyone is wondering: one vote yes, one vote no, five votes for "physics is bad"
     
    • Like x 10
    • Winner x 1
  19. Re Allyssa

    Re Allyssa Sylph of Heart

    Almost 24, took one physics class*. That sounds like something I should know, but it is not.

    Edit: *one physics class in college. I had one in high school too, but I didn't retain anything from that semester because of depression
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2017
  20. Wiwaxia

    Wiwaxia problematic taxon

    i'm 22
    What I recall is "gravity drops off as the inverse of [distance]([the number of dimensions you are dealing with]-1)
    so in 2 dimensions, gravity drops off linerarly with distance, in three dimensions it decreases as the inverse square of distance, in 4 spatial dimensions it would decrease as the inverse cube of distance, etc.

    #inb4 exohedron corrects me with like actual knowledge and shit
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2017
    • Like x 1
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