This was an extra credit question on a math test I had and everyone put that it was because there was no gravity in space, but there is. So.. what causes them to float?
2007-04-10 09:42:48 · 11 answers · asked by Jackie 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Astronauts floating in a space shuttle are experiencing apparent weightlessness. The shuttle is accelerating at the same rate as the astronauts are, similar to an elevator. The force due to gravity keeps the astronauts and the shuttle in orbit, but the astronauts feel weightless because no force normal is acting on them. The human body relies on gravitation force. For example, this force pulls your blood downward so that blood collects in the veins of your legs when you are standing. Because the body of an astronaut in orbit accelerates along with the space shuttle, gravitational force has no effect on the body. Gravitational force is never entirely absent, but can become negligible at distances that are far enough away from any masses.
2007-04-10 09:53:24 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The space shuttle and the astronauts are falling slowly toward Earth, but the Earth curves away from them and the space shuttle is moving fast enough to not be pulled down. Both actions made the weightless feeling of outer space.
2007-04-10 10:52:44 · answer #2 · answered by aximili12hp 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
When you are in space there is a force of gravity on you. It is just not as strong as it would be when you are on earth. The affect of gravity becomes weaker as you travel farther away from the Earth's center. When you are in space, you are very far away from the Earth's center. There is still some gravitational force being applied on you, but it's not strong enough to pull back into the Earth's gravitational pull.
2007-04-10 10:16:08 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I can't believe how many people think that there is no gravity in space!
Being in orbit is traveling with a lateral velocity such that you fall along an arc that is concentric with the curvature of the Earth. The weightlessness is apparent, not real - it's the same for a skydiver (minus the friction of the air).
In fact, in the absence of gravity it would be impossible to be in orbit.
2007-04-10 10:15:48 · answer #4 · answered by asgspifs 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Of course there is gravity in space.
Astronauts are actually falling at 9.8m/s just like everything else around the earth is attracted to it at 9.8m/s. The difference is, that they are traveling, rotating around the earth at a high enough speed, that they fall as they travel around the curvature of the earth. At a correct speed of rotation around the earth, they neither come closer to the earth nor move farther away, because their falling rate is equal to the change of the curvature of the earth.
2007-04-10 09:48:33 · answer #5 · answered by FourWheelDave 3 · 4⤊ 0⤋
They're not actually floating, but *falling*.... They fall at the same rate as the craft they're riding in, so they appear "to float." The reason they don't hit the earth is that they fall toward the earth, but the earth curves away from them, so they fall perpetually. (until the micro friction slows them down enough to re-enter...)
2007-04-10 09:48:23 · answer #6 · answered by quantumclaustrophobe 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
They are actually falling around the earth.
2007-04-10 10:26:56 · answer #7 · answered by JOHNNIE B 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Gravity holds the moon in place so there is gravity in the shuttle. Google it.
2015-02-12 11:03:24 · answer #8 · answered by ty dogg 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No there is no gravity in space that is why they float there is nothing to keep u down
2007-04-10 09:47:42 · answer #9 · answered by steph 2 · 0⤊ 7⤋
yeah it has no gravity, gravity pushes you down in earth and some other planets, but in space it has 0 gravity they just float.!!!
2007-04-10 09:52:06 · answer #10 · answered by westafrocherokee 1 · 0⤊ 7⤋