Q and BA Episode 4: The Gravity of the Situation

[sethmusic]

i love that your speaking and your cut in comments are so tonally different. its like the evil dr. plait comes out when its time to communicate in text. its almost like kevin nealon's "mr subliminal" bit. i always get a chuckle from your "pocket pimp hand"

[KevinSaale]

Thank you for destroying astrology, you are more and more my hero.

[BOREDUMBAS]

Please try to restore just a little of my once huge faith in the collective human intelligence by talking about the possible causes of things that religion twists (Such as saying the lake of fire Christ spoke of having the potential for natural causes rather than some psychotic angry-god) & also restore my faith in human collective intelligence by NOT reacting but rather instead using your logic logically without any pre-conceived twists... Please...?

[BOREDUMBAS]

Please discuss sunspots from a science view point rather than merely parroting what research grant funded scientists think (Know) they have to say to keep their grants... In my humble semi-scientific (Logical) point of view our iron-rich star shows signs of a localised lack of hydrogen fuel & the difference in temperatures between the plasma in the spots & that surrounding it gives rise to the different conditions for the interaction of magnetic flux...

[BOREDUMBAS]

Perhaps you may wish to challenge yourselves by discussing the possible (Certain) natural causes of the predictions of Isaiah in 13:10 & of Christ where he speaks (Depending on the translation) of the stars appearing to change course (Planet wobbling) & also himself speaks of the sun ceasing to shine light & instead scorching earth with great heat... Add in the 3rd Ch of St Peter's 2nd book (Describing a supernova) & you have some interesting talking points...

[unaka2012]

Excellent shirt choice in this vid ;)

Raamen!

[MrKappaBeta]

Okay... So two pieces of paper are in a vacuum...

Both face each other 2 miles apart.

One is 1 mile square and the other is 1000 miles square.

Do they both meet each other at the center 1 mile point? Or does the larger piece of paper pull the small piece of paper all the way towards it?

( I am cross referencing what somebody else has suggested )

[ffreak3]

You're assuming only their mutual gravity is acting on them?

The force of gravity on an object is

G * m1 * m2 / r^2

Where G is the gravitational constant, the m's are the masses of the two objects that are attracting each other, and r is the distance between the centres of gravity. So the force acting on them is the same. Both move.

BUT, Newton's second law, Force = mass * acceleration, so the small piece of paper will accelerate 1000 * faster.

They'll meet very near to large paper.

[ffreak3]

that was in response to MrKappaBeta, sorry.

[patricknelson]

Of course astrology is ridiculous. Nice video though! I learned a lot.

[greger4520]

wait... did he just say he was 20 cm thick? damn!

[thisguyflip]

flowing spaghetti monster

[patricknelson]

Flying, not flowing.

[CivilHuman]

Bless his noodley appendages.

[CivilHuman]

Oh wait may his noodley appendages bless me.

[patricknelson]

Or is it "May he bless me with his noodley appendages".

[Skullz747]

lol

[fixedd]

So, the sun has a stronger gravitational influence on us than the moon. Does the sun also affect tides?

[frankieboi82]

yes, the sun has an effect on the tides but because gravity is relevent to mass and DISTANCE it is not as strong as the moons affect.

[dfarmer1584]

arrrrgggg matey, very fine reference there to the FSM! RAmen!

[asktheastronomer]

since phil isn't doing these anymore contact ask the astronomer !!

type into google without the spaces between words and dots ..

asktheastronomer . blogspot . com

[TheEyesOfNye]

What about Mars? What has a greater gravitational pull, the doctor or mars? Carl Sagan said that the doctor has a greater gravitational pull.

[Retardretroguy]

He did mention Venus, wich is roughly about the size of the Earth, having pull of 1.5 times of a person. Mars is farther away and alot smaller than venus, so I'd put my money on the doctor (at his/hers closest).

[Cramocys]

i love this, i really do - got a question for u - do you have a older brother in germany called Prof. Lesch

( just look for Prof Lesch on youtube )

.. you look just like him ( not as " old " of course ) - his topics are the same, his tv show ( 15 mins on a german science chan is very entertaining, and his sense of humour is just like yours ).

Thank you very much for this great post !

[caveman314]

FSM!!!!  W00T!

[jergsden]

That's the beauty of the rational mind; willingness to admit error.

[redagain1]

I got two odd comments/questions .. As a mom, I noticed that my kids, when sick, ran a higher temp as the sun went down. Ok.. could their bodies be missing the pull of the sun?

Humm, I have heard that the police see more nuts acting up during the time of a full moon. Could the combined pulls of the sun and moon in a certain angle, bring out the worse in some folks??

[AJvsRonin]

The main reason (I assume) crime and other antisocial behaviour increases on clear nights with a full moon is that on nights like that it can be bright enough to read a book. And find that open window in that empty house. Or pick the lock of that car... If you can't see what your doing and you're just going to trip over everything or get bitten by that dog you didnt see. You're less likely to go out prowling. The types of crime committed also change with the weather as well.

[valhar2000]

Is there any evidence that crime increases on those nights? I've never seen any, much though people like to quote that "statistic".

[jeffthefishdotcom]

Just because you can't see the sun doesn't mean its gravitation is not still pulling on you.

[leporidus]

I wrote a few programs for an old astrologer ten years ago (I know, I'm scum and a money whore). Most astrologers simply state that the effect of constellations on a person doesn't have anything to do with gravity (heck, even their their versions (!) of zodiac signs and vernal equinox don't make any physical sense).

The astrologer died about 7 years ago. If he had seen that coming, he would've written his book a little faster. SCNR :->

[KRMABLRS]

Thanks for taking my question, that ruled.

[ZacharyB]

Thanks for another great episode, Phil.

[exlex]

Hmm... someone check my math. I used F = (mass of astronomical body in kg) / (average distance from earth in m)^2. Don't have to worry about G or the mass of the person. I get: Person = 155 / 0.2^2 = 3875; Moon = (7.3477 * 10^22) / 384399000^2 = 497263.884 [128X Person]; Sun = (1.988 435 * 10^30) / (149.6 * 10^9)^2 = 88848113.7 [23,000X Person].

[kwakhed23]

phil's values are order of magnitude estimates, it seems. your answers are of the same order, but with showing how you got there, your numbers give better estimates.

[exlex]

Yikes, I would feel like an idiot except that NASA lost a spacecraft to the same error I made above. :-) (should have used 70, not 155.)

[EvilWeevil]

Now I want a flying spaghetti monster shirt lol.

[Icabobster]

We forgive you, but only because of your awesome shirt. ;)

[sl0wdjin]

Good stuff. I like this series, and definitely you're getting even better at it.

[darkpheonix262]

RAmen friend

[bankeh]

Errors Smerrors.. not a biggie :-D

[CaptainScrewdriver]

How much gravitational pull does a body have to have for you to actually feel it?