This is fascinating! Both of them accelerate toward the earth at the same rate, but because of the bowling ball's greater mass, the EARTH accelerates faster toward the bowling ball than it does toward the feather, so it's imperceptibly faster XD
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There's a video of astronauts doing the heavy thing vs feather in vacuum experiment. I think it was a hammer rather than a bowling ball tho.
Since we are in avaccum
That's where you're wrong kiddo
For anyone wondering it's because the bowling ball slightly pulls the earth faster toward itself. This amount is too small to possibly measure. But imagine if the bowling ball were the size of another Earth and it's easier to see why it happens.
But being more massive means that due to inertia the ball will take just a tiny little wee bit longer to start moving no? So they end up falling at the same time.
Also, are these Newtonian mechanics? How do they compare to relativity at the "bowling ball and feather" scale?
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. It's been a while since I read anything physics-related.
The above is just referring to the fact that the standard "feather vs. bowling ball" question assumes the earth/moon/ground is immovable. In that case, Newton says they fall the same.
The fact that the ground is not immovable is what's being referenced
in this picture, things don't "fall," they are each accelerated towards each other.
The acceleration from gravity would be the same no matter the object mass (~9.8m/s²).
Oh yes! I omitted that part, but what I meant to say is that mass and inertia balance each other, so that in the end the acceleration from gravity ends up the same for any object.
Thanks for the non-jargon version
More like failing
Does the bowling ball ever so slightly increase the gravitational constant because of it's greater mass? Is that what the right guy is getting at?
No. F=GMm/d2. The mass of the earth doesn’t change so g=GM/d2 will not change
Ah but the earth doesn't just attract the ball or feather. The bowling ball attracts the earth as well, and since it has more mass, it will pull the earth towards it faster than the feather.
But if you drop them at the same time, that's moot.
So why does the bowling ball fall faster in a vacuum? Does it appear faster locally because the heavier object makes local time slower than the lighter object compared to a distant observer? I'm trying to understand what the meme is getting at.
The bowling ball also pulls the earth towards itself. This amount is imperceptibly small but still there
That's the neat thing: it doesn't
I’m trying to understand as well.
The gravitational constant G, no, the mutual gravitational force between the earth and the ball approximated as g, yes.
Edit: Since this is a little pedantic, G is used to calculate g.
But how would that make the bowling ball fall faster? F = G × m₁ × m₂ / r² and F = m₁ × a ⇒ a = F / m = G × m₂ / r², where m₁ is the mass of the ball and m₂ the mass of the planet. So the gravitational acceleration of a bowling ball is independent of its mass (assuming the planet has way more mass than a bowling ball).
I guess the bowling ball attracts the Earth towards it, shortening the distance so it hits the ground faster
It's not even because it's heavier, it's because it's way more dense.
It's not density, it's mass. A mass of 1kg compressed to the density of the Sun's core would pull the Earth with just as much force as a 1kg ball of styrofoam.
And is the Sun was replaced with a black hole of the same mass, the Earth would just keep on rotating around it without issues, if slightly frozen
Just to add some formality to this, the original commenter might want to look up the shell theorem for classical mechanics and Birkhoff's theorem for general relativity.
The guy on the right, if he be so wise in the ways of science, should be using the word "massive" instead of "heavier".
Can you explain please
Heavy is a subjective term based on the force of gravity. You are heavier if we weigh you on the earth compared to if you are weighed on the moon.
Your mass in those two examples is unchanged. The amount of mass you have is finite and not subjective like weight.