Questions tagged [gravity]
Questions regarding the attractive force which exists between any two bodies of matter.
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Does gravity slow or speed light up?
The speed of light in a vacuum is presumably the fastest speed possible.
if gravity bends the course of light, does this imply that gravity the retards light so it is moving at a slower speed? If ...
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Why do we have the cosmological constant?
Since the cosmological constant is not required to explain that the universe seem to be expanding, why do we have it?
What other factors cause us to have that constant?
Background:
Without the ...
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Does gravity propagate?
Gravity is sometimes described as a curvature in space-time. Due to relativity, doesn't this imply that gravity doesn't propagate?
A thought experiment. If you are moving toward a black hole, this ...
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How does light affect the universe?
When light is emitted by for example a star, that star loses energy - which causes it to reduce its gravity. Then that energy begins a journey for potentially billions of years, until it reaches some ...
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How does gravity affect the wavelength of light?
If, hypothetically, me and my rocket powered flashlight were falling straight toward the center of a black hole. The flashlight is a few kilometers behind me in our travels toward the center of the ...
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What Is The Great Attractor?
I've heard that there is something called the Great Attractor which seems to have some kind of gravitational influence on objects in the Universe. Is this some kind of theoretical notion posited in ...
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What was the length of year 1 million years back?
We know that the universe is gradually expanding and this indirectly means that the gravitational force between sun, earth, planets and other stars (roughly anything in the universe) is gradually ...
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If the hammer and feather move at the same speed why do comet and the tail particles move at different speeds?
From this exhibition by an astronaut on the moon dropping a hammer and a feather and showing they move at the same speed, why do the particles of the comets tail move away from the comet, slow down ...
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What's the smallest scale at which dark matter has been measured?
What is the smallest scale at which we have detected "dark matter" (more kinetic energy than would be predicted)?
If you don't mind indulging a follow-up: Would its detection on smaller scales be ...
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Are there any alternative explanations for the gravitational force we attribute to dark matter?
It always seemed counter-intuitive to me that we observed an measured a gravitational force and since the universe has not enough mass to account for it, the conclusion was to say there's a different ...
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Doesn't gravity attract objects in space until they collide?
If the formula to calculate the force of gravity between two objects is:
$$F = GM_1M_2/r^2,$$
why do planets stay in orbit? Or is there another formula at work?
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Does a planet's mass or gravity affect the height of it's mountains?
According to this Wikipedia page, the top five highest mountains on Mars (and the highest on Venus) are all taller than Mount Everest (and Mauna Kea as measured from the ocean floor).
Does a planet's ...
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What's the fastest moving object in the universe?
We know that nothing can have proper velocities larger than the speed of light in vacuum. But are there any objects in space that get close to it? Any comets, or other objects thrown by gravity or ...
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Determining effect of small variable force on planetary perihelion precession
Is there an analytical technique for determining the effect of a small variable transverse acceleration upon the rate of aspides precession (strictly not a precession but rotation of the line of ...
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Orbiting around a black hole
Is it possible (for either a satellite or a planet) to orbit around a black hole? Do they attract everything around themselves into the center? Or they just affect gravitational force just like stars?
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Parking a telescope at a Lagrange point: is this a good idea from a debris point of view?
The James Webb space telescope is supposed to be located at the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange point.
Do we expect the region around that point to have a higher concentration of space debris, asteroids, dust,...
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Is the moon moving further away from Earth and closer to the Sun? Why?
According to The NASA Moon Facts page:
The moon is actually moving away from earth at a rate of 1.5 inches per year.
Why is the moon moving further away from the Earth? Is this a result of the ...
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What is Gravitational Lensing?
What is the effect known as gravitational lensing? How does it work? What objects would be able to cause this effect?
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Do all the objects in the universe exert force on all other objects?
Do all the objects in the universe exert force on all other objects? Like a type of gravity; also, how much does it decrease as it gets farther away?
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