gravity question?

Question

if gravity pulls on everything the same, no matter the size, how can some people weigh more than other people??

Answer 1

Gravity pulls on mass. The more mass, the more pull. Larger people have more mass, thus more weight.

Your statement "gravity pulls on everything the same" is true, but the size DOES matter, in terms of mass. More mass, more pull.

Answer 2

Sorry about all the crap I posted before, you probably weren't looking for that, and won't need to worry about it unless you take a physics class in college.
Here is a simplified version:

Yes, the gravity Earth excerts on people is pretty much a constant, however, you have to understand that 'gravity' is nothing more than an acceleration.

In physics, there is a formula that relates that acceleration to the weigth, it is F=mg, where 'F' is the weigth, and 'm' is the mass of the object, in this case humans, and g is the constant acceleration gravity.

So clearly, you can see that a person who has more mass than another one, will weigth more.

However, having more mass doesn't really mean having more size. There is another physics relation called density: d=m/v, where 'm' is the mass, and 'v' the volume(ammount of matter in a body). If you solve for m, you get m=dv.

From that you can see that if a person has more volume, he/she could have more mass, but let's not forget about the density. If your body has a really small density, it wouldn't matter much that you have a large volume, just because of the density, you mass will end up beign small.

Here is how it works in humans(more or less):
A bodybuilder will have a very large density(suppose 20), but a not so big volume(suppose 1).
An obese person will have a large volume(suppose 20), but not a very large density(suppose 1).
In the end, if you apply m=dv to both persons, it will turn out that they have the same mass(20), but one of them will look obese, and the other looks fit. Also, applying F=mg, you will notice that they both weigth the same(arround 196 pounds).

However, I made up those numbers, in real life, they are basically numbers very different to the ones I wrote. For example, the density of the body builder could have been 1.05 instead of 1(or the volume could also be different), so using m=dv we get m=21, and then F=mg=206 pounds, hence a weigth difference.

Answer 3

Gravity pulls on everything the same proportionate to its mass. The greater the mass, the greater its weight (i.e., gravity's pull). So, in the extreme, an elephant weighs a lot more than a flea, even though gravity is, proportionately, pulling on them the same.

Answer 4

The force of gravity is not the same. It's the acceleration of gravity that is constant. If you drop two things at the same time, they will hit the ground at the same time. The more massive an object, the larger the force. Drop a coin and a bowling ball on your foot and you'll feel the difference.

Answer 5

Because people have different mass. Different mass equals more weight. If you want to weigh less then go to the moon where the gravitation pull is less than that of earth.

Answer 6

They are larger. The force of gravity is the same, but the larger the object (the more mass) the more it pulls.

Answer 7

according to a theory,
the gravitational force of attraction is directly proportional to the masses and inversly proportional to the square of distance between them.i hope this explains it all.

Answer 8

That has to do with mass, not gravity.

Gravity comes into effect only when two people with different weights jump at the same time and return to the ground at the same time.

Answer 9

weight slows the pull but still pulls it and there is the mass factor

however with things like satalites like the moon brings up more fun things to add

Answer 10

Gravity??? dont get too excited....its just a theory...Let us Pray...