This question is of course theoretical but would it be possible to push the moon away from the earth if you had a stick that reaches long enough? Given the weightlessness we think it should be possible but we can’t get out! Thanks in advance.
Answer
If you want to push the moon away, you have to compete with the gravity of the earth that keeps the moon “trapped”. This gravitational pull is proportional to the product of the masses of the Earth and the Moon, and is independent of their weight.
So you have to distinguish between the weight and mass (“amount of matter”) of objects: gravity causes attraction between objects with mass and causes these objects to gain weight when they are supported (eg by the earth’s surface).
In other words, the fact that there is weightlessness in space (because objects are not supported there), is irrelevant if you want to push the moon away. you would huheel have to push hard to overcome the earth’s gravity since both the earth and the moon have a lot of mass.
Answered by
dr.ir. Jan Bormans
Multimedia ICT Microelectronics MPEG Image Compression
Kapeldreef 75 3001 Leuven
http://www.imec-int.com
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