POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.off-topic : XKCD is amusing for once... : Re: XKCD is amusing for once... Server Time
7 Sep 2024 05:09:39 EDT (-0400)
  Re: XKCD is amusing for once...  
From: Chambers
Date: 20 Nov 2008 21:34:13
Message: <C22124499FDC48088B8E38CE5E778DB9@HomePC>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: scott [mailto:sco### [at] scottcom]
> Earth is rotating.  If the Earth rotated at the right speed then there
> would
> essentially be no downwards force (at least on the equator) and
> everything
> would float.

Question:  Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that everything in
contact with the Earth's surface would float?

After all, after you lose contact with the Earth's surface, the Earth
should (theoretically) no longer be applying the centripetal force to
throw you out, meaning that Gravity would again take over.

The corollary to this is that rotating a space station for gravity only
works when you're standing on the floor; anytime you're floating in the
air, you can watch the whole station rotate past you as you just sit
there :)


...Ben Chambers
www.pacificwebguy.com


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