Imagine a large sphere the size of the moon in space. The sphere is completely hollow and the shell of the sphere has a thickness of one foot. Imagine that an object is placed somewhere in the sphere (not in the center). Does the object get pulled by gravity to the center of the sphere, towards the sides of the sphere, or does it not move at all?
2006-10-10 03:14:47 · 4 answers · asked by iraperzari 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
It is in equilibrium. If you work through the mathematics, the total attractive force is zero no matter whereabouts inside the sphere you put the object. Centuries ago someone famous (or someone who later became famous) got a prize for proving this from basic mathematics and Newton's inverse square law of gravitation. I have seen the result quoted on various web sites, but without naming the first person who stated or proved it.
2006-10-10 03:41:46 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Every object has gravitational potential. You have a gravitational attraction right now, so does my pen. It is, however very small.
In this instance (since the object is not in the center) the object will move to whatever side of the sphere is closest. If it were in the center, it would be in equilibrium (assuming no other objects close enough to affect it) and not move anywhere.
2006-10-11 18:38:42 · answer #2 · answered by chica1012 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It seems as if it would be pulled to the center because the gravity will be pulling the object in every direction. The object would oscillate around the center until it stops at the center; once in the center, all of the gravitation will be cancelled out.
2006-10-10 10:42:03 · answer #3 · answered by accrv 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The object will be pulled towards the centre of the sphere if it is close enough to the centre of the sphere.
2006-10-10 10:21:44 · answer #4 · answered by Stuart T 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋