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32 Comments
- jgubbe, on 07/19/2009, -1/+32I am going to attemp a Micheal Jordan Dunk at this precise moment.
- charm803, on 07/19/2009, -0/+15I wonder if anyone will try to pull this prank:
A Moment Without Gravity
Due to a rare astronomical event, namely the planet Pluto passing behind Jupiter, the British astronomer Patrick Moore announced to a BBC radio station in 1976 that Earth's gravity would be lessened. The effect would only last for a moment, at 9:47 a.m. to be exact, and Moore encouraged listeners to jump in the air at that exact time to feel a "strange floating sensation."
Hundreds of people did, and began calling the radio station to share their feelings of the no-gravity moment (including one woman who said she and her friends even floated around the room)!
http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/07/03/28/the-10 ... - gozroth, on 07/19/2009, -0/+11We need to get Adam and Jamie out there!
- cstathis15, on 07/19/2009, -0/+6If you don't understand the significance of this, you don't deserve funding to pursue a PhD, especially in physics (you didn't specify.)
- RedLTeut, on 07/19/2009, -0/+5See http://www.everything2.com/node/1673836 "Pushing Gravity" for a simple model of gravity that predicts such an outcome; Basically you think of gravity like a giant game of billard, employing repulsive forces. Of course it is not the only model; There is the known one with attracting forces, which is dual to the "Pushing Gravity" model in that the known model deals with the effect of "holes" in the gravity field(the Higgs boson) while the "Pushing Gravity" model deals with a great number of simple repulsing particles (Just like the theory of electricity did go a long way even while thinking that the charge is being moved by positively charged particle).
The billard model means that when the moon is between the sun and Earth, it will shield a tiny fraction of gravity imparting particles, exactly equal to the number of particles taking effect on the moon. Exact measurement of the effect would give a constant the value of which is the probabilty that a gravity imparting particle is being absorbed. - TSK05, on 07/19/2009, -0/+5Well, lets see. Since our current theories say that no change in gravity should be expected, if there was then obviously something is wrong and we have to rethink... so yeah, that's pretty major.
- Fury69, on 07/19/2009, -0/+5It does more than just settle an argument. In the article it said if the results do show a gravity anomaly that we would need to reconsider our understanding of gravity.
- TSK05, on 07/19/2009, -0/+4I'll admit that I don't really understand tidal effects all that well but you may be advised to look at the law of universal gravitation, I do believe it goes "F = G*m*M/r^2." Notice both the masses determine the force, and the mass of your head is slightly less than that of the ocean. Also, tidal forces are not quite the same as force exerted, they depend on radius. A more apt comparison would have been "if my head is not pulled apart/elongated by the moon, how come it has enough force to change sea levels" and then you would be pointed to radius. In your comparison as it is, the force the moon applies to your head and tidal forces are not the same thing, its apples and oranges. Remember that tidal forces come from the fact that one part of the object is farther away from the source of gravity than the other (say the ocean, part is closer to the moon and part is on the other side of the Earth, thus farther).
- bigbangbuddha, on 07/20/2009, -0/+4"Chinese researchers have prepared eight gravimeters" - in other words they have put weights onto 8 scales.
- StalkerGhost, on 07/19/2009, -1/+3Stay away from the gravity anomaly! i have seen many stalkers lose their lives,dragged up into the air and crushed by these wretched things!
- Jaspah, on 07/19/2009, -0/+2Dead Space?
- trackandfield, on 07/19/2009, -0/+2Anyone else reminded of Slapstick by Vonnegut?
- skipvt, on 07/19/2009, -0/+2It ain't so funny when we all fly off the face of the planet for a second and then come crashing down and cause a earthquake.
- inactive, on 07/20/2009, -0/+2Considering your condescending attitude to science, I doubt that lack of funding is why they won't let you do a PhD. The only qualifications I can think of that would let you get away with that attitude are... Hell, I can't think of any qualifications which let you get away with being such an uninformed douchebag.
- CitizenSnipps, on 07/19/2009, -0/+2My first thought is: definitely not.
However, nobody really knows much of anything about gravity, so discovering some sort of gravitational shielding might help. Someone be sure to digg the results, I wouldn't know where to look for them. - Andrewbot, on 07/19/2009, -0/+1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRn5-LQCg2s
Who wants chowda? - TSK05, on 07/20/2009, -0/+1The use of the word theory here is as used in common language, not its scientific definition (as you point out, it does not qualify). Laws != theories, they're two totally different things (and also laws are used in other areas of science, not just physics).
- inactive, on 07/20/2009, -0/+1Sounds reasonable, if we take the above explanation at face value. Might be worth looking into the specifics of this theory, at least.
- TobiasParker, on 07/19/2009, -1/+2Now all we need is an eclipse over the large hadron collider and we are in business.
- Alex18, on 07/19/2009, -0/+1This is a bad model because our solar system is not stationary -- nor are most bodies of mass in the universe -- and so you would expect a body in motion would be showered with more of these "pushing gravity" particles from the direction in which they are moving (imagine running in the rain). Thus, you wouldn't expect Newtonian laws to be consistent with what we observe.
- k3rfuffl3, on 07/20/2009, -0/+1Yep... That whole theory of general relativity thing Einstein figured out was a load of horse *****. /s
- inactive, on 07/20/2009, -1/+2+2 internets
- TSK05, on 07/19/2009, -0/+1Sounds like objects can block gravity then (or....not).
- Presbyterian, on 07/19/2009, -3/+3And yet it has enough force to change sea levels?.
- Dealjobber, on 07/19/2009, -1/+1Hope they have some precise instruments. Say you go to sleep with the moon almost overhead. Isn't the force the moon relieves from your head so minuscule that the pressure between your head and the pillow is reduced only by like a millionth or a billionth?
- cmost, on 07/19/2009, -1/+1Why do you assume this is a myth? There were some anomalies during passt eclipses and now the scientists are going to determine whether or not they were real. What's the problem? Once upon a time, the world was considered flat and other planets were just a theory. If no one were brave enough to conduct experiments that proved exclusively the contrary, where would we be today? We can't learn anything without testing the boundaries, always!
- Alex18, on 07/20/2009, -0/+0I believe the pushing theory has been generally discredited in the scientific community. I can barely find any good information on it aside from the Feynman lectures. There is good discussion on it here though: http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=1419 ...
- benwright, on 07/20/2009, -0/+0The PhD isn't in Physics for a start. Some of you physicists are so up yourselves, it will not majority change anything to anyone except other physicists. And secondly, its not a theory until it has been tested and confirmed, its a hypothesis. The rest of the scientific community uses this, why must you have theory/laws? You all seem like a bunch of pretentious pricks, I hope there are nice physicists out there.
- spriggig, on 07/19/2009, -3/+2Just a thought--imagine the nausea from a malfunctioning artificial gravity system on a spaceship. It'd be like that Family Guy episode where everyone puked at once.
- Presbyterian, on 07/19/2009, -2/+0So.....was his prediction accurate?.
- silversky1024, on 07/20/2009, -2/+0This prank has already been done before. You can read it anywhere. Along with Spaghetti tree season and the Taco Liberty Bell.
- benwright, on 07/19/2009, -7/+0This is a pretty big undertaking for a pretty insignificant event, lets be honest. Even if the moon does create a Gravity anomaly it will be so small to be of no relevance other than to settle an "argument" Surely they have better things to do. They are "wasting" money on over there while I cant get funding to do a PhD back here, think I need to move to China. Think I need to contact my uncle in Guangzhou.
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