Showing posts with label Earth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Earth. Show all posts
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
VIDEO: Newton's 3rd Law by Veritasium
There is a gravitational force of attraction between the Earth and the moon, but is it mutual? That is, are the forces on the Earth and the moon equal? Most people would say no, the Earth exerts a greater force of attraction because it is larger and has more mass. This is a situation in which Newton's Third Law is relevant. Newton's Third Law says that for every force, there is an equal and opposite reaction force. So the force the Earth exerts on the moon must be exactly equal and opposite the force the moon exerts on the Earth. But how can that be - that the same size force keeps the moon orbiting, but barely affects the Earth? The answer is inertia - the tendency for all objects with mass to maintain their state of motion. Since the Earth has much more mass than the moon, it has greater inertia and therefore experiences much less acceleration for the same amount of force.
link to video on YouTube
VIDEO: Scale Model of the Earth and Moon by Veritasium
If the Earth were a basket ball and the Moon a tennis ball, about how far apart would the balls need to be to accurately represent the distance between the Earth and Moon with a scale model?
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