It's everywhere, and yet nowhere. You find it on Earth, but not in the dead of space. Yet it keeps you from floating into space. This is the power of gravity. Join us as we explore gravity in all of its elements. 9. What Is Gravity?
So what exactly is gravity? I'm sure you have your own little explanations as to what it is, and what it isn't, but the technical definition is that it is: "a natural phenomenon by which all things with mass or energy—including planets, stars, galaxies, and even light—are brought toward (or gravitate toward) one another."
8. The Effects Of Gravity Both Positive And Negative
There are many ways to define gravity, including stating that it's a "force" in the universe exhumed by massive objects. Albert Einstein went so far as to say that it was a "consequence" of the bending of spacetime. But no matter which way you like to see it, or like to say it, the point is that gravity impacts just about everything in its path. Which is why it's no doubt one of the most important fundamental forces in the universe, and does a lot more than you might think.
First, there's the obvious one, the Earth's gravity keeps you in check and keeps you on the ground. Should that not be the case, then you would literally float up into the sky, and then into space...where you would die...not fun. It's also keeps the gasses that you breathe in the confines of its atmosphere. Without gravity there wouldn't be any air to breathe because it would keep going out into space versus going in a cycle of sky to ground.
But how about the moon? That's another thing that has gravity and it exerts it on the Earth in its own way. How? Well, while it doesn't affect us as people per se, it does affect the oceans of our world. Depending on the closeness of the moon and what "phase" it's in, it can drastically affect the waters and cause massive waves, huge storms, and more.
If you recall the movie "Bruce Almighty" there is a scene with Jim Carrey where he (using the powers of God) pulls the moon closer to impress Jennifer Aniston. He thinks it's cool, and she thinks it's romantic. Until the next morning when he finds out that massive tidal shifts harmed a lot of people, and even killed some of them. Oops. Fantasy? Not so much, there are events known as "Supermoons"
7. Space And Microgravity
There are some things you can only learn via trial and error and testing. Such was the case when humans were exposed to microgravity in space in the long-term thanks to the international space station that lies in orbit above the Earth.
When you think about it, humans had only been exposed to zero or microgravity for a few days, or maybe a week during the initial space missions and even the Apollo space missions that took people to the moon. On the surface, it didn't affect them that much because there is very much a "buffer zone" for what the body can endure without any gravity around.
6. G-Force
As noted, Earth's gravity is a constant force. However, there are times, and are ways, to manipulate gravity in order to push it to its limits, and even change how the human body is affected by it. In counterpoint, the ways to manipulate Earth's gravity can also cause the human body to experience things known as G-Forces.
5. The Effects Of Extra G's
Ok, I want you to picture yourself on a flat piece of land. Good? Now I want you to imagine that Earth's gravity suddenly doubled.
4. Zero-G on Earth?
If you want the feeling of being weightless, you do have a few options. You could go swimming, as that would give a kind of Zero-G effect, but there are ways to do that in a more legitimate sense without having to go to space. There actually is a flight company known as Zero-G that offers a legit zero gravity experience.
3. The Gravity Of Other Space Bodies
As noted earlier, the gravity in space is zero, but the bodies that are within space have their own gravity. Which means should we decide to go and colonize other worlds we'd have to adjust to their own gravity and see how we could survive on it.
2. Artificial Gravity
We've seen it in many sci-fi movies and TV shows, where a character is on a planet and they're under less gravity, then they enter a room of sorts and all of a sudden they're under regular gravity with no issue. Is that really possible?
Theoretically? Sure, there are ways to possibly make it happen, but none of them are available to us right now. In space though, it's more probable to make "artificial gravity" happen by emulating what planets and stars do...
If you wish to know about one of the biggest forces of gravity in the universe today, there is only one thing to look at...so to speak. That would be the Black Hole. Black Holes are forces of nature that are created via dying stars (and certain other things) that have gravity so intense that it has literally collapsed upon itself to the extent that it can create a gravity field that makes light unable to escape it.
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