Comment on Falling

• Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  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.

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  • hddsx@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    In other words, the feather and ball are both attracted to the earth at the same rate but because the ball has a higher mass, the earth is very slightly more attracted to the ball

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    • Honytawk@lemmy.zip ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Maybe the ball is just more of their type?

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• JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  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.

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  • Tja@programming.dev ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    That’s the neat thing: it doesn’t

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  • Drewfro66@lemmygrad.ml ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    The bowling ball also pulls the earth towards itself. This amount is imperceptibly small but still there

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  • hddsx@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I’m trying to understand as well.

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  • dev_null@lemmy.ml ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Because it, ever so slightly, pulls Earth towards it with it’s own, miniscule gravity.

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    • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      But that doesn’t make the bowling ball fall faster to a distant observer, just the earth fall twords the ball. To an observer on earth it would appear to fall faster though.

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      • dev_null@lemmy.ml ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Yeah, I think the meme is intended from the perspective of an observer on Earth.

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      • Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        The ball’s acceleration is identical to the feather’s, but it’s fall ends up shorter.

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