Sunday, January 13, 2008

Gravity

Imagine this: There's a really skinny guy and a really obese girl. They have to be partners for a ballet performance. In one scene, Mark (the skinny guy) has to lift Olga (the obese girl). Mark doesn't know how he'll practice with Olga . He decides on three possible places to practice. Mark believes that he can go to the practice room on the 30th floor of their building, the tip of Mount Everest, or to the moon. After doing some research mark decides he'll go to the moon. He rents a rocket from NASA, makes some calls and invites Olga to the moon. Olga is confused but she agrees. So the two go to the moon. On the moon, Mark is able to lift Olga as if she's a feather. He can even spin her around on her pinky! But the only problem with this is, Mark needs to arrange for the play to be on the moon!

Why is this? Why can Mark lift Olga very easily on the moon but not on Earth? It's actually not that hard to understand once you are able to understand gravity. Gravity is the force of attraction between two things. The reason that we stand on the Earth and don't float around is because we share a gravitational pull with the earth. The moon has a different gravitational pull than the Earth. Gravity determines weight. The stronger the pull, the more weight. The truth is that you will weigh less on Mount Everest than you do in a mine, underground!

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