Should Earth be the last place to think about gravity?

• Autores: Philip Johnson
• Localización: School Science Review, ISSN 0036-6811, Vol. 102, Nº. 379, 2020, págs. 23-27
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Earthbound manifestations of gravity in falling objects are distorted by the large mass and size of the earth. Movement is also affected by air resistance. This article questions whether an approach based on everyday observations is necessarily the best starting point for introducing the idea of Newtonian gravity. Instead, a theoretical approach is advocated. Starting in space, a model for gravity is developed in a stepwise progression that leads towards understanding gravity involving an extremely large mass. The model is then applied to scenarios on the Moon and the Earth. Newton’s third law is discussed in the context of the model. En route, common misconceptions are addressed in a positive manner.