We learned today that the strength of gravity depends on two factors: mass and distance. Simply, the more mass an object has the greater its force of gravity has on another object that has less mass. The larger mass exerts more force on a smaller mass...hmmm...what will be the outcome of this? If I were that little kid I would run and put some distance between him and the big guy! Which brings us to the relationship of distance and gravity. The farther away two objects are, the less the force of gravity between them. Many planets in our Solar System are far enough away from the Sun that they can continue orbiting the Sun without being sucked into the Sun. Gravity effects the largest mass in a system, so if we wanted to go where the most gravity is we would need to head for the Sun. If you weighed 220 pounds on the Earth and traveled to the Sun, you would weigh 6,173 pounds! In reality, you wouldn't die from "burning up" as you neared the Sun, your lungs would be smothered by your immense weight!! All caused by the force of gravity on an object of lesser mass. What if you turned around and traveled somewhere else? Where there is mass there is gravity, everywhere in the universe. Einstein explained that where there was gravity there is curved space which will bend light, like a lens. The Hubble telescope captures the bending of light around a nearby star. Because the White Dwarf star is so close, it appears to move quickly across the sky compared with more-distant stars. Scientists realized that during 2014 it would pass directly in front of a background star that lies around 5,000 light-years, away. They signed up for time on Hubble to watch the event. In eight observations between October 2013 and October 2015, the background star seemed to shift back and forth slightly. The shift was so small it was equivalent to a person in London watching an ant crawl across a coin in Moscow, but it was enough to confirm that the gravity of Stein 2051 B (White Dwarf) was bending the light of the background star. Whoa! Did you catch that? The force of gravity makes "The Force" look weak! Okay, I'm outta here!!
11 Comments
|
Mrs. TaylorI love science! Everything about the world is interesting and never boring. I love to study plants, animals, insects, and people. My favorite subjects are my students who are the most unique organisms on the planet! Categories |