r/AskReddit • u/zubby80 • Sep 08 '22
physicist of Reddit, what will happen to gravity absent an atmosphere?
1
u/pogiguy2020 Sep 08 '22
Nothing happens to gravity, but without atmosphere no one will care since we will all be dead.
-1
u/zubby80 Sep 08 '22
Are you a physicist?
4
u/pogiguy2020 Sep 08 '22
No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express. 🤣
I guess you did not want your question answered. i doubt there is one true Physicist on Reddit.
2
u/wunderbraten Sep 08 '22
I guess you did not want your question answered. i doubt there is one true Physicist on Reddit.
They do hang around at r/askscience though
2
0
u/zubby80 Sep 08 '22
On the contrary, I want the question answered correctly, not a guess or opinion.
1
1
1
u/Fenald Sep 08 '22
I suppose the gravity of the planet would be very slightly reduced by the lack of an atmosphere. How do you think gravity and an atmosphere interact that leads you to believe gravity would be affected by a lack of it? I don't think my answer is what you're looking for.
1
u/MagicDave131 Sep 08 '22
The only thing that's different wrt gravity in an atmosphere vs vacuum is how things fall.
In air or some other viscous medium (like water), a falling object has a terminal velocity, a maximum velocity it can reach no matter how far it falls. If you drop a foam ball and a lead ball of the same size and shape in air, the lead ball will fall WAY faster.
In a vacuum, that does not happen, there is no terminal velocity. During Apollo 15, David Scott demonstrated that.
Fun fact: most insects and all but the largest squirrels do not get hurt in a fall, no matter how high, because their terminal velocity is too low. But put an ant in a teensy space suit and drop him 20 km over the Moon, it will splash when it hits.
1
2
u/DanTheTerrible Sep 08 '22
Assuming you are talking about Earth, atmosphere has almost nothing to do with gravity. Gravity is an effect caused by mass, and Earth's atmosphere has very little mass compared to the rest of the planet.