How long can a cloud of dust last on the moon? Let's say you're on the moon and you find a soft patch of dust so you kick it up a few times with your foot (in a spacesuit, duh). Since there's no air to hold the dust up, the dust would just fall back down almost immediately, wouldn't it?
2007-12-17 15:34:14 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Yup. The dust the Apollo astronauts fell at the same speed as everything else. To me it looked like they were kicking slush around.
The other striking visual was dropping the hammer and the feather on Apollo 15. The hammer fell slower than it would on Earth, but the feather fell at exactly the same rate, much faster than air resistance would allow on Earth. As a result, the hammer appeared to fall slowly, while the feather appeared to drop like a stone.
2007-12-17 16:46:33 · answer #1 · answered by laurahal42 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
That's just what happens - the dust scuffed up by an astronaut's boot or by the Lunar Rover just drops back down in classic free-fall, quite unlike what happens here on Earth in the thick atmosphere. It looks really strange. I wonder how they filmed THAT part of the fake moon landings :)
2007-12-17 16:02:14 · answer #2 · answered by jgoulden 7 · 6⤊ 0⤋
Gravity is what is going to make the dust fall back to the surface of the moon. There is less gravity on the moon than there is on the earth, so the dust is going to fall more slowly to the moon's surface than it would on earth.
2007-12-17 15:44:00 · answer #3 · answered by Ste Bone 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
its possible that you could statically charge some dust so that it would fall slower as it repelled the other particles of same charge, but for the most part, it would fall like a wet rag.
2007-12-17 16:10:22 · answer #4 · answered by Faesson 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
yes
2007-12-17 17:53:10 · answer #5 · answered by Asker 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes.
The same speed as any other falling object.
2007-12-17 15:41:49 · answer #6 · answered by J C 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋