edit to subtract
[edit on 13-3-2007 by observe50]
Originally posted by sensfan
Gravity and magnetism are 2 entirely different things.
Since your questions are roughly the same, I’ll answer them both at once. Gravity and magnetism are not the same thing. In fact, they are totally and completely separate forces. Gravity is a force that acts between any two objects with mass. No matter what they are made of, both objects get pulled towards each other just because they have mass. The reason it seems like gravity only pulls you towards the earth is because the earth is so big that the pull from you on it isn’t enough to do much to its motion.Gravity vs magnetism
Unlike gravity, which occurs between any objects, magnetism depends on specific properties of objects. Magnetism can either pull the two objects together or push them apart, depending on which way the magnets point. Most importantly, it depends on what is going on with the electrons in the material, since each electron is like a tiny magnet itself. Most materials are almost insensitive to magnetism because the electrons act like magnets pointing every which way, more or less equal numbers pulling or pushing.
Originally posted by sensfan
I don't know what science you believe in, but although magnets and gravity have similar traits, they are not the "exact same thing" as you put it in the other thread.
Originally posted by Quazi176
I did a search on "Moon" and didn't see any title about why the moon doesnt rotate. Can someone explain to me why the moon is in gravitational lock with the earth? Why do never see the darkside of the moon since it doesnt rotate?
external source link
“Newton decided that the force of gravity on Earth was the same force that organized the motions of the moon around the Earth and the Earth and all the planets around the sun. He invented a formalism and developed mathematical formulas for calculating the size of the gravitational force both on Earth and in outer space.”
“BUT unfortunately, Newtonian gravity falls apart when we try to combine it with what we've just learned about Special Relativity.”
external source link “This was where Einstein came in. Not only did Einstein give us the Special Theory of Relativity, but in his quest to make gravity consistent with Special Relativity, he invented the General Theory of Relativity.”
external source link
“In Einstein's time they were already learning about differential geometry, but Einstein motivated this field of mathematics even more when he came up with an equation relating the curvature tensor of the spacetime distance function to the distribution of matter and energy in spacetime… “
external source link
“When two bodies of comparable mass orbit one around the other, Kepler's third law states that a relation exists between the orbital period of the two bodies, their mean distance and their masses.”
external source link
“The Moon does not shake, rattle, and roll as Earth
does. Almost all moonquakes are smaller than Earth’s
constant grumblings. The largest quakes reach only
about magnitude 5 (strong enough to cause dishes to
fall out of cabinets), and these occur about once a
year. This is clear evidence that the Moon is not at
present geologically active.”
“…older
rocks have stronger magnetism, suggesting that the
Moon’s magnetic field was stronger in the distant
past, and then decreased to its weak present state.”
Originally posted by jra
Originally posted by Quazi176
I did a search on "Moon" and didn't see any title about why the moon doesnt rotate. Can someone explain to me why the moon is in gravitational lock with the earth? Why do never see the darkside of the moon since it doesnt rotate?
Firstly there is no dark side, only a far side. But all sides of the Moon get an equal amount of day and night. One day on the Moon being close to one month on Earth.
The Moon does rotate, but at about the same speed that it orbits Earth. So one side is always facing us. It's called tidal locking. There are a number of other Moons that are tidal locked as well. Also, Pluto and Charon are both tidally locked to one another. If you want to read into it more, this link is a good start. en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by LogansRun
Originally posted by Connected
So you are saying, all the videos of weightless astronauts floating in zero gravity right above Earth is fake? Just like a magnet out of range with an opposite charge, the Earth stops attracting a human once out of the atmosphere. Wow just like a magnet..
Um, no. The astronauts aren't floating, they are in orbit. They are constantly being pulled toward the earth, but when you maintain an orbit at a certain speed (no I dont know the speed) you can maintain your distance for a greater period of time. Either way, they are still being pulled toward the earth.
Originally posted by Quazi176
Thanks![]()