• Question: How does Gravity work?

    Asked by BladeFight to Stephen, Saoirse, Dervil on 7 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Dervil Cody

      Dervil Cody answered on 7 Nov 2016:

      Every single object that has mass exerts a force on any other object that comes close to it, called a grativational pull. The size of the gravitational pull depends on the mass of the object. If you have a really big object with huge mass, like the Earth, it will be able to exert a really big pull on smaller objects that come close to it. Which is why gravity is always pulling us back down to Earth!

    • Photo: Stephen Davitt

      Stephen Davitt answered on 7 Nov 2016:

      Ok, so there’s still not a 100% accepted reason for exactly HOW gravity works but there is one example I really like and that is the concept that objects ‘bend’ space time. there is a really nice youtube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTY1Kje0yLg

      What we know from studies of gravity is that all objects are attracted to eachother, but you need a VERY heavy object to create a gravitational pull that we as humans would feel, the heavier the object the bigger the gravity.

      Next you might think ‘so why don’t we feel gravity from other planets?’ and that is because it also has to do with how far you are from the other object, the greater the distance you are away from the object the weaker the pull of gravity. So because we are SO far from other planets, stars, moons we don’t really feel thier gravitational pull.

      I hope this kind of answers your question without getting too complex?

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