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MASS. Am i right here about an object needing a large mass to have its own gravity? If not, how large do objects in space need to have gravity. the question came to me when i watching family guy, the one where peter starts a fat people club and brian is trying to prove to peter that he's fat, so he troughs an apple at him than it starts to float around peter like a moon. Than peter still refuses that he's fat so than brian troughs a chair, a tv and a pot and they all start to float around him. it's really funny.
but seriously, how large of a mass does an object have to be to have it's own gravity ( i didn't say volume because look at jupiter, it's big but it doesn't have a super strong gravity while on earth our gravity is greater than jupiters because jupiter is mainly frozen gas and gas where earth is rock and all that other stuff )? And if i'm completely wrong, how does an object get gravity?

2007-10-16 09:40:08 · 4 answers · asked by µMeGA WaTT 3 in Science & Mathematics Physics

4 answers

All mass has a gravitational effect. For that apple to orbit Peter, it would simply have to be where there aren't larger masses around that are close by, say in deep space. Also, the apple would have to be going less than the escape velocity, which wouldn't be much. But if these conditions were met, that apple could orbit Peter.

2007-10-16 09:46:43 · answer #1 · answered by mathematician 7 · 1 0

Any mass -- even an electron with one of the the smallest masses -- has gravity.

Is the gravitational attraction of Peter significant, when compared with the Earth? absolutely not. It is so *in*significant that fruit and furniture simply fall to the earth.

There was a famous experiment first done by Cavendish to show that even small masses possesed gravity:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavendish_experiment

.

2007-10-16 09:46:56 · answer #2 · answered by tlbs101 7 · 1 0

Theoretically if it has mass it has gravity.
Unfortunately the gravitational force is very weak.

However "how does an object get gravity" still remains a scientific/philosophical debate.

2007-10-16 09:47:31 · answer #3 · answered by Edward 7 · 1 0

All items have "gravity" but unless they are planet sized they have so little it is unmeasurable. It is a matter of mass regardless of its content.

2007-10-16 09:49:25 · answer #4 · answered by bocasbeachbum 6 · 2 0

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