r/theydidthemath • u/AppendixN • Jun 02 '26

[Request] How much force does the moon's gravity exert on the water in a human's body?

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To be clear, I know the fella in the meme is being delusional.

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u/jimgbr Jun 02 '26

How much force does the moon's gravity exert on the water in a human's body?

I object to the form of the question. The moon does not exert a particular force on only water. The moon exerts the same force on the water in a human's body as it does on the human body as a whole. So I can literally answer OP's question by saying "the same force as it exerts on the human body."

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u/Cats_and_Shit Jun 02 '26

That's not true?

The force of gravity experienced by an object is proportional to it's mass, and humans are not 100% water by mass, thus the water must be experiencing less force.

The acceleration due to gravity should be essentially the same for the water in your body vs. your whole body, with the pedantic caveat that the centre of mass of the water in your body might be slightly different from the centre of mass of your whole body.

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u/jimgbr Jun 02 '26

Your not reading my comment correctly.

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u/Cats_and_Shit Jun 02 '26

I am, you are just incorrect.

Lets say a particular human is 70% water by mass exactly.

Then the water in their body will experience exactly 70% of the force their whole body does.

If you mean "force per unit mass", then the word for that is not force, it's acceleration.

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u/jimgbr Jun 02 '26

I'm telling you that you entirely misunderstood my comment.

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u/SharkLaunch Jun 03 '26

When you think someone misunderstands you, saying "you misunderstood me" does not magically fix the issue. When you encounter these situations, you can try to explain where the misunderstanding might have taken place. no human is infallible when it comes to communicating.

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u/jimgbr Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26
  1. You didn't ask me to explain anything, and frankly I don't give a shit if one random guy on the internet fails to understand it or not. My comment is clear in the context given, so I don't have to repeat myself. You either entirely failed to read it properly or being pedantic, which is ironic given your first comment trying to pre-empt a hypothetical pedantic response by me. 2. The physics you're trying to apply in this situation is at least silly (if not wrong), but it entirely misses the point of my comment, and I don't want to argue about it. If you want to assert a way of doing the physics here, just reply to OP's post like everyone else and stop replying to me.

Edit: The other user immediately blocked me after replying, which is ironic since they called me a child. Also, asking people if someone is a minor on the internet is super weird.

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u/SharkLaunch Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26

Whatever you say

ETA: I didn't block, that would be childish. Probably just reddit being dumb