Question about gravity.

My question is:

If you built a vacuume tunnel that runs from the North pole throught earths center and to the South Pole. And on the North Pole you placed a 10kg weight into the vacuume tunnel. Would the weight fall/travel to the South Pole?

My teacher/Professor tells me that the 10kg weight would fall to the South Pole. I am telling him that the 10kg weight would not travel anywhere.

I have also googled this question and found that a lot of other people agree with my teacher. But they are all wrong. Does anybody here know why my teacher is wrong?

Yes it would.

Why the vacuum? Explain why you think it wouldn't please. I assume the vacuum is to stop air friction.

It WOULD fall al the way through. This force is true gravity.

You might be thinking of spin induced "gravity", caused by rotation, inertia etc.

This would indeed, not go anywhere.

My opinion is that it would accelerate as it falls, passing through the center of the earth and reaching the south pole 42 minutes later. On its way up to the south pole it would be decelerating and reach zero speed at the surface.

Then, like a pendulum, it would return to you at the north pole another 42 minutes later.... then back to the south pole, and so on forever.

Of course this assumes perfect vacuum, no touching the sides of the tunnel, and so forth.

Originally posted by SpearMint
Yes it would.

The answer is wrong. If i tell you that there is vacuume inside the tunnel all the way from the North pole to the South pole. How could mass travel to the South Pole? Or even to the core?

If the 10kg mass travels. That would mean the tunnel is not a vacuume from N to S. Correct?

reply to post by spy66


it would stop in the middle...the field differential in centre = 0....it be suspended.

interia = 0.

Originally posted by spy66
The answer is wrong. If i tell you that there is vacuume inside the tunnel all the way from the North pole to the South pole. How could mass travel to the South Pole? Or even to the core?

What do you think would happen if the tunnel was only 1 mile deep?

What about 1000 miles deep?

Originally posted by spy66

Originally posted by SpearMint
Yes it would.

The answer is wrong. If i tell you that there is vacuume inside the tunnel all the way from the North pole to the South pole. How could mass travel to the South Pole? Or even to the core?

Why do you think a vacuum would stop it?

The 10kg weight would make it 73% of the way before returning to the centre. Plain and simple.

It would take 42 mins to get there by the way.

Originally posted by SpearMint

Originally posted by spy66

Originally posted by SpearMint
Yes it would.

The answer is wrong. If i tell you that there is vacuume inside the tunnel all the way from the North pole to the South pole. How could mass travel to the South Pole? Or even to the core?

Why do you think a vacuum would stop it?

My conclusion is that the vacuume is isloleted from earth mass/gravity by the tunnel walls. If you have a equal vacuume from N to S there is no mass to cause motion to the 10kg weight. So it would never move.

Originally posted by spy66

My question is:

If you built a vacuume tunnel that runs from the North pole throught earths center and to the South Pole. And on the North Pole you placed a 10kg weight into the vacuume tunnel. Would the weight fall/travel to the South Pole?

My teacher/Professor tells me that the 10kg weight would fall to the South Pole. I am telling him that the 10kg weight would not travel anywhere.

I have also googled this question and found that a lot of other people agree with my teacher. But they are all wrong. Does anybody here know why my teacher is wrong?

A Vacuum tunnel through the center of the Earth is impossible of course but if you forget REALITY and HEAT....the object would fall until it reached the Center of the Earths Gravity Well. It would then pass by it for a moment where it would loose speed and come to a halt and then fall back toward the earths Gravity Well from the other direction. This would go on until it finally came to a stop dead center.
Split Infinity

Originally posted by spy66

Originally posted by SpearMint

Originally posted by spy66

Originally posted by SpearMint
Yes it would.

The answer is wrong. If i tell you that there is vacuume inside the tunnel all the way from the North pole to the South pole. How could mass travel to the South Pole? Or even to the core?

Why do you think a vacuum would stop it?

My conclusion is that the vacuume is isloleted from earth mass/gravity by the tunnel walls. If you have a equal vacuume from N to S there is no mass to cause motion to the 10kg weight. So it would never move.

Gravity acts in a vacuum. You seem very convinced that everybody including your science teacher is wrong except you.

reply to post by spy66


forcre = mass x acceleration of gravity

g = 0 in centre..

the object would slow down as g decreases until in centre object becomes stationary because g = 0

Originally posted by alfa1
My opinion is that it would accelerate as it falls, passing through the center of the earth and reaching the south pole 42 minutes later. On its way up to the south pole it would be decelerating and reach zero speed at the surface.

Then, like a pendulum, it would return to you at the north pole another 42 minutes later.... then back to the south pole, and so on forever.

Of course this assumes perfect vacuum, no touching the sides of the tunnel, and so forth.

edit on 20-10-2012 by alfa1 because: (no reason given)

Not true.

In a perfect vacuume isolate inside a tunnel from N to S. There is no way the 10kg would be effected by earths gravity. How can it be effected by earths gravity inside the vacuume tunnel?

Originally posted by AthlonSavage
reply to post by spy66

 

forcre = mass x acceleration of gravity

g = 0 in centre..

the object would slow down as g decreases until in centre object becomes stationary because g = 0

But there is g = 0 at the top of the vacuume tunnel as well. How can the mass fall?

The whole tunnel is zero g from N to S.

Gravity would attract the object to the center of mass, which would still be the center of the earth. Gravity pervades a vacuum, so an object dropped into the tube would drop, and fall to the center of the earth.There, it would stick to the wall of the tube to which it is driven, which would depend upon the earth's position in rotation, at that very moment.

Is the center of a mass (perfectly symmetrical one) where there exists an infitely small imaginary point that is gravity? Is this point in your tube? Or in the mass around the tube?

Originally posted by spy66
How can it be effected by earths gravity inside the vacuume tunnel?[

Please explain how and why you think a vacuum stops gravity.

Also explain how satellites work if there is no gravity

Originally posted by SplitInfinity

Originally posted by spy66

My question is:

If you built a vacuume tunnel that runs from the North pole throught earths center and to the South Pole. And on the North Pole you placed a 10kg weight into the vacuume tunnel. Would the weight fall/travel to the South Pole?

My teacher/Professor tells me that the 10kg weight would fall to the South Pole. I am telling him that the 10kg weight would not travel anywhere.

I have also googled this question and found that a lot of other people agree with my teacher. But they are all wrong. Does anybody here know why my teacher is wrong?

A Vacuum tunnel through the center of the Earth is impossible of course but if you forget REALITY and HEAT....the object would fall until it reached the Center of the Earths Gravity Well. It would then pass by it for a moment where it would loose speed and come to a halt and then fall back toward the earths Gravity Well from the other direction. This would go on until it finally came to a stop dead center.
Split Infinity

It would make it to the side ignoring air friction, which doesn't exist in a vacuum.

Originally posted by spy66

Originally posted by alfa1
My opinion is that it would accelerate as it falls, passing through the center of the earth and reaching the south pole 42 minutes later. On its way up to the south pole it would be decelerating and reach zero speed at the surface.

Then, like a pendulum, it would return to you at the north pole another 42 minutes later.... then back to the south pole, and so on forever.

Of course this assumes perfect vacuum, no touching the sides of the tunnel, and so forth.

edit on 20-10-2012 by alfa1 because: (no reason given)

Not true.

In a perfect vacuume isolate inside a tunnel from N to S. There is no way the 10kg would be effected by earths gravity. How can it be effected by earths gravity inside the vacuume tunnel?

edit on 27.06.08 by spy66 because: (no reason given)

Why do you think gravity doesn't work in a vacuum?