If gravity ceased to exist, how far away would everything float?

Question

Would it stay in the earth's atmosphere, or just keep on going?

Answer 1

It would all float off out of the Earths atmosphere. I suppose the stuff would eventually find its way towards the next source of gravity, the Moon, although that would float off too I suppose.

Answer 2

If gravity ceased, there'd be a lot more going on than stuff floating away. It would have to be a cataclysmic disaster which preceded it that would rip the earth apart, reducing everything to asteroids and space dust.

Answer 3

Everyone would die because there would be no air, and nothing would float away unless there was some force, then it would keep going and going and going and going and going and going and going etc etc the end Have Fun ^_^

Answer 4

For the record, I hereby retain rights to the science fiction story I am about to outline.

God decides that the universe has had enough time to operate under the physical laws He created along with the universe, time, and space. At 3pm Pacific Standard Time (earth), January 3, 2014, the gravitational force every mass now experiences with every other mass will cease to exist. All other physical laws will continue unchanged. Every mass will continue to move and accelerate according to the sum of all forces on it. One of those forces will suddenly be reduced to zero.

The motion of celestial bodies is affected only by gravity. Since matter is, on average, electrically neutral, the electrostatic force at a distance is zero. Heavenly bodies will cease orbital movement, and will instead continue to move in whatever direction they were moving at that instant and continue in that direction forever, until they collide with something. The overall gravitational attraction of the universe will cease restraining the expansion of the universe, and it will instead continue to expand at whatever rate it was expanding at the time. The Hubble Constant suddenly becomes meaningless.

Closer to home, earth would cease orbiting the sun and just continue on a linear tangent path. In a year, its distance from the sun would increase by about the circumference of its orbit, about 4 times its present distance. Incident solar energy would drop by a factor of two to the fourth power, or 16. Solar power and all its direct derivatives (wind, hydro) would become useless. Hydro had already become useless, since there's no gravity to draw the water through the turbines. Wind was also useless, since the atmosphere drifted away from earth with no gravity to hold it in place. We still have nuclear and some geothermal, but we stopped using fossil fuels, since our remaining oxygen is far too precious to waste on burning.

We have some time to plan and prepare, so human society begins to deemphasize its more trivial pursuits and works toward building self-contained, self-sustainable colonies, with domes to retain atmosphere, and everything tied down so it won't drift away. Uranium mining accelerates, as does construction and deployment of nuclear reactors. Geologists devote themselves to figuring out whether the earth will hold together without gravity, of whether it will break apart. Physicists work furiously to calculate all the implications. How long will the sun sustain its fusion reaction without gravity? Raising animals for food is phased out, and agriculture concentrates on maximum grain production and packaging it for maximum longevity, like granola bars in sealed packages.

People realize that there is no way they can build enough infrastructure to sustain earth's present population, much less continued population growth. They realize that decisions will need to be made about who lives and who dies. Suddenly, the value of individual contribution to society will determine not only their economic wealth, but their very life.

Some will realize that their ignorance and rejection of God was foolish and short-sighted, will repent, and will devote themselves to knowing God and obeying Him, and following His direction. Others will succumb to the "eat, drink, and be merry; for tomorrow we die" philosophy. It will be the best of times. It will be the worst of times.

Answer 5

generally speaking that is a relative question. need more information to answer with clarity.:)

Answer 6

infinity