gravity

do big rocks fall faster than little rocks?(The earth pulls objects down, and objects pull the earth... or more practically speaking objects pull themselves towards the earth. The force is based on it's mass, so dropping 2 rocks of different size (all other things being equal) the larger one will have a greater force acting on it than the smaller... thus a faster speed).

Is this a joke??
This is the conjecture that the famous(and perhaps aprocrophyl) experiment of Galieo's disproved.What is interesting is that gravitational and inertial mass are identical. So while the earth and a large rock are pulled toward each other with a larger force than with a small rock the amount of force needed to accelerate a large rock is larger also and larger by just the same amount. So they both accelerate at the same rate (disregarding the complications like air friction ).The experiment was conducted on the moon as well.

aww shoot... i thought i was on to something.

For whatever it's worth, the cover story of the current (October 2003) "Discover" is an intersting little article on gravity.Also, on their "bogglers" page, under the plummeting header, there is a a 3 part quiz on practical departures from the Galileo results.Perhaps the first 3 messages of this topic were under the influence of having read this issue of "Discover".Moose

Nope, I haven't read that issue. I'll browse it this week maybe.

It depends on the rocks. If I recall correctly, the formula for gravitational force is:F =G * m1 * m2Where G is the universal gravitational constant (not to be confused with 9.8m/s^2), m1 is the first mass (let's say Earth) and m2 is the second mass (let's say your rock). Since acceleration is relative to force and the mass of the object being accelerated, it works out to the same number for large and small objects. *However*, you are also exerting a force on Earth, so Earth will also move a (very miniscule amount) towards the rock, the net effect being a *tiny* decrease in the length of time until they collide.A much greater effect will be from wind resistance. Larger mass rocks tend to have a higher mass to surface area ratio, and thus create less drag (proportionally).------------------
"Illuminant light,
illuminate me."

Rei writes:

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If I recall correctly, the formula for gravitational force is:

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F =G * m1 * m2

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Only because I'm being picky, the actual formula is:F = Gm₁m₂/r²Indeed, you are correct that G is the gravitational constant of the universe:G = 6.67300e^-11m³/(kgs²)Thus, we get the right units on F of kgm/s²------------------
Rrhain
WWJD? JWRTFM!

Does this come up a lot in auditions? --Percy

Percipient responds to me:

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Only because I'm being picky, the actual formula is:

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F = Gm₁m₂/r²

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Does this come up a lot in auditions?

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No.But I have a BS in Applied Mathematics. Why wouldn't I know this stuff? My goal, for a while, was to be the next Tom Lehrer: A scientist who used his knowledge and thinking skills to entertain the masses. Alas, I don't know how to play the piano and it's hard to sing with a clarinet in your mouth.Though there was that time I did "New Math" for a Shakespeare audition. I got the part...the call had requested "verse" and the director was ecstatic that somebody decided to do a piece of modern verse rather than the same old Reformation material he'd heard a million times before.And yet, somehow I didn't get the part of Dr. Abner Sedgwick in that production of It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman even though I was the only one who understood anything of what he was singing about: The heterogeneous nature of colloid solutions, the Raman effect, references to Pauli and Fermi, and a wonderful line when referencing Urey, "My heavy hydrogen was heavier than his."------------------
Rrhain
WWJD? JWRTFM!

But the incongruity of a thespian spouting physics instead of Shakespeare! No more incongruous than a jock spouting physics, I suppose...--Percy

Whoops!Oh, minor details like r^2 don't really matter... hehehe (can't believe I forgot that part)------------------
"Illuminant light,
illuminate me."

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My goal, for a while, was to be the next Tom Lehrer

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And I was fool enough to think you had no sense of humor. Anyone with a reservoir of irony vast enough to refer to any Tom Lehrer tune as 'modern verse' is so far beyond me in the wit department that I feel like the busboy at the Algonquin Round Table. My humblest apologies.------------------
I would not let the chickens cross the antidote road because I was already hospitlized for trying to say this!-Brad McFall

Percipient responds to me:

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But the incongruity of a thespian spouting physics instead of Shakespeare!

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Oh, you wouldn't believe the lack of respect...from both sides! All the theatre people when they found out I was a math major were certain I had no soul...all the math people when they found out I was a theatre minor were convinced I had no brain. And this from Harvey Mudd...where they make you minor in the Humanities or Arts...and Pomona which is right across the street and thus know that such is the mandate of Mudd. And then when I got to UNM and had one of the professors ask me right out, "Why are you auditioning for the upper-division acting class? You're not a Theatre major."

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No more incongruous than a jock spouting physics, I suppose...

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I remember the time when I was playing trivia at the bar. My screen name is "ACTOR." And, while trying to seem modest as I say this, I was cleaning everybody's clock. I heard the group sitting near me shout out, "How the hell does an actor know this stuff?"Nah...couldn't be because he paid attention in school....I never felt that jocks couldn't be smart. After all, I went to Mudd...of course all the jocks were smart. ------------------
Rrhain
WWJD? JWRTFM!

MrHambre responds to me:

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My goal, for a while, was to be the next Tom Lehrer

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And I was fool enough to think you had no sense of humor.

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Think nothing of it. My best friend's brother is one up on me. He went to UCSanta Cruz and actually got to take a class from Lehrer. We're all quite jealous.A local theatre group is supposed to be putting on Tomfoolery next year. God, I hope I get in....------------------
Rrhain
WWJD? JWRTFM!

Isn't Gravity not actually a force? But instead a warping of space-time? Isn't this what Einstein showed? Or is it that all forces are actually warpings of space-time?And if gravity isn't a force, why are Quantum Theorists looking for Gravitons?