Author |
Topic: Reverse Newton (Read 374 times) |
|
Kozo Morimoto
Junior Member
Posts: 114
|
 |
Reverse Newton
« on: May 16th, 2003, 12:24am » |
 Quote  Modify
|
Newton said that gravitational force is proportional to the inverse square of the distance between 2 objects.
List 2 object where the gravitational force REDUCES when the obejcts are brought closer together.
|
|
 IP Logged |
|
|
|
towr
wu::riddles Moderator
Uberpuzzler
Some people are average, some are just mean.
Gender: 
Posts: 13730
|
|
Re: Reverse Newton
« Reply #1 on: May 16th, 2003, 1:11am » |
Quote Modify
|
I know objects between which the attractive force decreases as they get closer, but not gravitational force..
|
|
IP Logged |
Wikipedia, Google, Mathworld, Integer sequence DB
|
|
|
phobos
Newbie
Gender:
Posts: 49
|
|
Re: Reverse Newton
« Reply #2 on: May 16th, 2003, 11:36am » |
Quote Modify
|
Perhaps those objects with their center of mass outside their bodies will have the characteristics described by the question (when you bring the two of them together in the right way)? Even though in reality the distance between their center of masses are actually increasing.
Imagine bringing two arc-shaped objects closer and closer till they clinch.
|
| « Last Edit: May 16th, 2003, 11:39am by phobos » |
IP Logged |
|
|
|
James Fingas
Uberpuzzler
Gender:
Posts: 949
|
|
Re: Reverse Newton
« Reply #3 on: May 16th, 2003, 12:31pm » |
Quote Modify
|
Here's a well-known example: consider a human body and the Earth with a hole drilled all the way through to China (yeah, I know).
|
|
IP Logged |
Doc, I'm addicted to advice! What should I do?
|
|
|
towr
wu::riddles Moderator
Uberpuzzler
Some people are average, some are just mean.
Gender:
Posts: 13730
|
|
Re: Reverse Newton
« Reply #4 on: May 17th, 2003, 5:05am » |
Quote Modify
|
I would contend that the gravitational force doesn't really decrease, it's only the resulting gravitational vector that decreases, you get pulled from multiple (near infinite) directions, which are cancelling each other out..
|
|
IP Logged |
Wikipedia, Google, Mathworld, Integer sequence DB
|
|
|
Kozo Morimoto
Junior Member
Posts: 114
|
|
Re: Reverse Newton
« Reply #5 on: May 18th, 2003, 6:41pm » |
Quote Modify
|
Maybe I should change the wording of the riddle then?
|
|
IP Logged |
|
|
|
James Fingas
Uberpuzzler
Gender:
Posts: 949
|
|
Re: Reverse Newton
« Reply #6 on: May 19th, 2003, 6:31am » |
Quote Modify
|
towr,
Consider being inside a hollow massy sphere. Nowhere inside is there gravity. Now you might say that in the middle the "force" is biggest, but you're closer to the mass near the edges. How could you define a different "force" for different points? I think even the scalar integral of 1/d2 is constant in this case (but I didn't do the math)...
I think the naive interpretation is perfectly valid: the gravitational force is just "the force attracting the two objects together".
|
|
IP Logged |
Doc, I'm addicted to advice! What should I do?
|
|
|
|
RIDDLES SITE
WRITE MATH!
Home 
Help 
Search 
Members 
Login 
Register
Reply
Notify of replies
Send Topic
Print