Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2007 2:28 pm Posts: 556 Location: USA
|
1helios1 wrote: where F is the force of gravity, G is the gravitational constant, M is the mass of the first body, m is the mass of the second, and the R's are the radius.
since force equals mass times acceleration we can work out a new equation for the acceleration of a body due to gravity.
a = GM/R x R
and as we can see from this it will not take a very large change in R for the acceleration on a body to change. that is to say that the force pulling a body would likely be noticeably different at different elevations. the full range of implications form that i can not begin to imagine.
of course, more than that, the size of the planet would likely be.....noticeable.
Yah, I saw the problemt that the effect of gravity would change drastically by very shot elevations. I haven't sat down to work out the math, but in simple terms, when you first link in would be earth norm (1 gravity), but then when you get up to Sharper's Office with the fish tank, you might be bouncing around like you're on the moon, heh.
With such a short radius (just over 5 km), you may, or may not see that. It depends on a few things:
Here on Earth, you can see out to approx 20 miles (uhg, wait, metrics, sorry, I'm used to using miles vs Km's, heh) we'll say almost 40 km before the curve of the earth. A ship sailing away would get smaller of course, but once it got to about 40 km, it would appear to sink in the ocean, when all that is happening is that it is sinking below the curve of the earth.
Height changes that of course. Ships steaming to New York city see the tops of the sky scrapers there well before they get within 40 km of port.
5.1 km for a radius is like OMG!!! As far as a planet goes (uuuuuuhhhhhhmmmm, er, "Planet" okay, they redefined that term.....I'd have to say that if Teledahn was indeed that small, it's not even a Kuiper object! It's an astroid), the moon is around 6,000 km in diameter, the curve would be seen from about 6 km away I believe, so you would see that......
....or would you?
Keep in mind the illusional effect that can play on our eyes. Surrounded by water that's flat and calm, with nothing on or near the horizon, it would make it almost impossible to tell how far or close the horizon was.....until something got near it that we could reference with size (a ship, cloud,.......Shroomie!). Ahnonay Spheres are a very good example of creating that illusion.
For those of you that have a hard time grasping that, try this as an experiment....
Watch the calender for the next full moon, the 15th of March I believe. If you watch as the moon rise, as it's close to the horizon, it will look very large to you. Wait a few hours or 4. Then go back and look again, as it's much higher in the sky, it will look smaller. Now, while you were doing this, have a large,round asprin pill in your hand. Hold it at arms length when the moon rises and compare the size. Do this again when you've waited those few hours and the moon is higher in the sky.
The answer will be: the size comparison will be the same.
Most scientist agree that the reason the moon looks so much bigger at the horizon than high in the sky, is that close to the horizon, you have objects in the foreground to compare it to, and introduces an optical illusion.
How does that saying go? "Things are not always as they appear." ?? heheheheh.
_________________
My Tutorials
|
|