Science Memes

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260

ur dada so buff he falls significantly faster than g (mander.xyz)

submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The bowling ball isn’t falling to the earth faster. The higher perceived acceleration is due to the earth falling toward the bowling ball.

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Yes, the earth accelerates toward the ball faster than it does toward the feather.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Wouldn’t this be equally offset by the increase in inertia from their masses?

[–] [email protected] 33 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

If your bowling ball is twice as massive, the force between it and earth will be twice as strong. But the ball’s mass will also be twice as large, so the ball’s acceleration will remain the same. This is why g=9.81m/s^2 is the same for every object on earth.

But the earth’s acceleration would not remain the same. The force doubles, but the mass of earth remains constant, so the acceleration of earth doubles.

[–] Robust_Mirror 5 points 2 days ago

But if you're dropping them at the same time right next to each other, the earth is so large they would functionally be one object and pull the earth at the same combined acceleration.

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