Comment on Would a disk shaped planet have uniform gravity like earth or would it vary depending on whether you're near the center or edges?

Depress_Mode@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

• nymnympseudonym@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  You’re going to love this

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGu-DYTYzzE

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• colourlesspony@pawb.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Now, I’m confused. Does the magnitude of the gravity change or only the direction? Ooterness’s, linked physics analysis seem to show gravity would be super week near the edges. The video seems to suggest otherwise. Or maybe I’m just not understanding anything.

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  • Depress_Mode@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I’m no physicist, so I could be wrong, but I don’t think the magnitude would change, only the direction gravity pulls you in. It might “feel” stronger the same way gravity might “feel” stronger when ascending an ever-steepening hill, though.

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    • Azzu@leminal.space ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      You said the literal opposite of what you later explained. “Always toward the center” = direction does not change, magnitude changes.

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      • Depress_Mode@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Did I? I was thinking in the sense that when climbing a steep hill, gravity isn’t actually any stronger, you’re just fighting against it more, since you’re travelling more vertically than horizontally at some point.

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  • bogusdog@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I’m almost certain that the pull of gravity would be weakest while standing at the center of the disc. The majority of the disc’s mass is distributed to your sides, acting evenly on you in all directions, so the net downward vector would be relatively weak.

    Although gravity generally acts most strongly when you’re closest to the center of mass, that would surely no longer apply if you’re surrounded by the mass. Imagine there was a hollow space at the center of the earth. You could be at earth’s center of mass and experience no net gravity, since it would be pulling evenly on you in all directions.

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