Our Weight

We know that earth and us on it, free falls vertically around the sun. So our inertia acts vertically upwards. Now take a hypothetical situation, where earth is not falling around anything, so there will be no inertia acting vertically upwards. In such a situation, wont our weight be greater than what it presently is?

originally posted by: Nochzwei
We know that earth and us on it, free falls vertically around the sun. So our inertia acts vertically upwards. Now take a hypothetical situation, where earth is not falling around anything, so there will be no inertia acting vertically upwards. In such a situation, wont our weight be greater than what it presently is?

Quite simply, no.

If you were correct then we should weigh more on the moon as it has 2 types of "inertia pulling upwards".

Also, it would mean that people in daylight would way more than someone in the dark.

originally posted by: Nochzwei
We know that earth and us on it, free falls vertically around the sun. So our inertia acts vertically upwards. Now take a hypothetical situation, where earth is not falling around anything, so there will be no inertia acting vertically upwards. In such a situation, wont our weight be greater than what it presently is?

The Earth is in orbit. This means that the gravitational attraction towards the Sun is exactly balanced out by the centrifugal force of our orbital trajectory. We are riding around on a planet with forces in balance. If that planet was not acted upon by Solar gravity its orbit would cease and again, the forces would be in balance as the Earth shot off into space. In either situation the forces are in balance and our weight would be from the same gravitational attraction between our bodies and the Earth.

So, no change in weight.

Tidal forces from nearby bodies such as the moon cause our weight to change though.

OP, I suggest that you might be really interested in Lagrangian points.
Wiki Lagrangian point

Lol nobody has it right yet.

a reply to: Nochzwei

No. Now please stop posting this rubbish.

170 pounds. 6 foot. Lanky, lean muscular build with a bit of a beer belly.

We're cranking around the circle too slowly to show any change...we might as well be sitting still, huh!!!

but we are going through space in a spread out spiral.......as the sun drags it's orbiters along.....toward Spica.....that star that flashes colors.....kinda brightly even....is that right??? cool to picture.....

originally posted by: Astyanax
a reply to: Nochzwei

No. Now please stop posting this rubbish.

Likewise. Pl elaborate, you have not answered the op as asyntax

originally posted by: Nochzwei
wont our weight be greater

Theoretically, yes.
Inertia, or centrifugal force, is present yet in very small amounts. I doubt you could measure a difference in the weight of a mass from either orbital or rotational centrifugal forces.

Add; Here is another thought experiment. Turn down the gravity of the Earth, and everything else, and at some point before zero the centrifugal force of the Earth spinning will throw you off the surface and out into space.

a reply to: Nochzwei

as you demonstrate that you dont know what inertia is - [ and further miss-represent " inertia " ] the scope of this " discussion " is limited

a reply to: Devino

blinks - inertia and centrifugal are not interchangable terms

originally posted by: ignorant_ape
a reply to: Devino

blinks - inertia and centrifugal are not interchangable terms

They are the same thing.

In Newtonian mechanics, the term centrifugal force is used to refer to an inertial force (also called a 'fictitious' force)

Source

When you swing an object around on a string or rope, you will feel a force pulling the object outward. This is called the centrifugal force and is caused by the inertia of the object

Source
Inertia is the resistance to acceleration and centripetal force is considered angular acceleration.

originally posted by: ignorant_ape
a reply to: Nochzwei

as you demonstrate that you dont know what inertia is - [ and further miss-represent " inertia " ] the scope of this " discussion " is limited

Lol read the op. I said vertically falling so there is no centrifugal force. I'm truly appalled
at the level of physics understanding at ats

a reply to: TerryDon79

Also, it would mean that people in daylight would way more than someone in the dark.

They do. Infinitesimally so, and for different reasons, but they do. As far as I am aware light exerts a very tiny force. An object in shadow will press down less than an object in direct sunlight, even if the difference is practically impossible to measure.

a reply to: Nochzwei

When you're falling downwards, you don't have inertia acting upwards. For moving bodies, inertia acts in the direction of travel.

Well Inertia is a property of an object, dependant upon its mass. It is a measure of how difficult it is to change an objects motion.

Centripetal force is an example of a pseudo-force.

So observation of weight? yeah it might affect it, BUT, Earth and sun it is going to be small, and it does not effect the mass of the object. Plus we also have our own rotation on the Earth in the mix too.

Interpretation of this goes very hand in hand with misconceptions, a wonderful example is that of a head on collision between a Heavy truck and a small car... which applies the highest force? The answer you give (without googling) tells of how much a newtonian thinker you are.

originally posted by: wildespace
a reply to: Nochzwei

When you're falling downwards, you don't have inertia acting upwards. For moving bodies, inertia acts in the direction of travel.

Since when?

originally posted by: Nochzwei
We know that earth and us on it, free falls vertically around the sun. So our inertia acts vertically upwards. Now take a hypothetical situation, where earth is not falling around anything, so there will be no inertia acting vertically upwards. In such a situation, wont our weight be greater than what it presently is?

I suppose there might be some lessening of our body weights due to the centripetal (or centrifugal? I'm not sure) force on our bodies from the spinning Earth -- i.e., our bodies wanting to be "flung off/spun off" of the rotating Earth if Earth's Gravity wasn't holding our bodies down.

It seems to me that this centripetal force would act generally "eastwards" (opposite the direction of Earth spin) and be felt the greatest at the equator.

Put it this way, if gravity could be magically turned off, that centripetal force would eventually cause us to be flung away from the spinning Earth. So there is a force acting generally/partially opposite the gravitational force.

However, I bet the effect is negligible when compared to the force of Earth's gravity .

I'm only overweight because gravity is too strong. Maybe instead of dieting and exercising I could alter the gravity of the earth.