Why is there no gravity in a vacuum?

Question

We recently had a discussion about gravity. That gravity is determined by the amount of Mass an object has and by the distance from the core of said object that you are can effect how much you weigh. For example, we would weight 2.53 times our weight on Juipiter. See here for a clear explanation: http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/weight/

So, my question goes deeper when we consider the effect of being in a vaccum. From what I understand is that items are weightless once placed inside a vacuum. Maybe I'm wrong here. I don't know enough about vacuums. But if that's correct then why doesn't gravity have any effect in a vacuum? If I were to step into a man made vacuum here on earth (with enough equipment to keep me alive) why wouldn't gravity have any effect on me at that point? I'd still be present on earth where gravity plays a role.

Answer 1

Yes, you are completely, undoubtedly and clearly wrong.

Think, think!

What is vacuum? Well, you may just have read enough to know that it is just absence of matter. Is there anything between the Moon and the Earth? No. So, it's vacuum. If gravity does not exist in vacuum, what is the wicked bizarre phenomena you think there is to keep the Moon turning around de Earth?

You can be isolated from matter, radiation, and other physical phenomena. But you are NEVER isolated from gravity. While you're siting at your desk like you're doing now, ALL the bodies on the universe, from your computer's monitor to the most remote star you can conceive, all have an effect upon you and that's called gravity. The fact that the contributions of the others are very weak when compared to Earth's explains why you can't see it. Even if you can conceive the most perfect vacuum you believe, which is not attainable, gravity would exist there. Just because you wouldn't have any way of measure this effect it doesn't mean it wouldn't be there, gravity as an infinite range.

Answer 2

Vacuum Gravity

Answer 3

There ARE gravitational fields in vacuums. The field lines, theoretically, extend out to infinity but propagate at light speed. Vacuums have no effect whatsoever on the gravitational force. This is why the Moon orbits the Earth, the Earth orbits the Sun, the Sun orbits the galactic core (black hole), etc. If you were to create a vacuum on Earth and step into it, you would feel exactly the same force due to gravity as you would outside.



I think the misconception comes from seeing footage of things being "weightless" in space. This is NOT due to a lack of gravity in space - it actually arises from the centripetal force due to the spacecrafts orbiting Earth at a speed that exactly cancels the effects.

Answer 4

Well, to begin, the surface of the earth is nearly a vacuum now. The atmospheric pressure at the surface is just 14 pounds per square inch. Contrary to what people see in silly science fiction movies, people don't explode if they get exposed to a vacuum in outer space.



There are 5 fundamental forces in physics and only gravity can't be described in terms of anything but itself. This means nobody knows what it actually is. All physicists can describe is the effects of gravity, not its causes. Many of them do believe it is like electromagnetic radiation in that it consists of waves. They travel through space at the speed of light. If this were true it means that if the sun suddenly ceased to exist we would not know it for 8 minutes. This is how long it takes light from the sun to reach earth. The earth would still be in gravitational orbit around a non existent object. At 8 minutes day would disappear forever and the earth would fly straight off into space at 19 miles a second, which is what its orbital velocity is.



The universe is a collection of objects expanding into an infinite region of nothingness. As the universe expands it creates time and space, which do not exist outside the universe. Gravity is associated with mass however. There is no such thing as a true vacuum inside the universe but there is outside it. If an object were placed outside the universe there would be no space nor any time, but there would still be gravity. The gravity would be coming from the object itself. This is because anything with any mass also generates a gravitational field.

Answer 5

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Without air in the torus there are two possible scenarios: one in which the astronaut WOULD "feel" the effect of the artificial gravity and one in which he WOULDN'T. If the torus is stationary and the astronaut isn't touching the outer rim (or any other part of the torus, for that matter) and the torus is slowly brought up to full rotational speed, the astronaut will be largely unaffected and will continue to hover above the rim as long as nothing hits him to give him some tangential speed. If the torus is stationary and the astronaut IS touching the outer rim, and the torus is slowly brought up to full rotational speed, friction will cause the astronaut to accelerate as well. In that case, the astronaut will feel more and more force against the rim as the centripetal acceleration increases. Adding air to the torus somewhat complicates the matter. If an astronaut is floating above the outer rim in a torus that contains air, then as the torus begins to spin it will drag the air along with it, creating an increasingly stronger wind against the astronaut. Eventually the astronaut will be blown toward the rim, at which point he will be forced to accelerate tangentially, giving him the sense of artificial gravity. So...the presence or absense of air only matters if the astronaut is not touching the rim when the torus begins to rotate. In any other situation the artificial gravity will work just fine sans atmosphere. I hope that helps. Good luck!

Answer 6

You are totally wrong. Gravitation exists in vacuum. If it didn't, Earth wouldn't be spinning around the Sun, would it?

Now gravitation is the force between 2 objects, if you only consider 1 object then yes there is no attraction between that object and "nothing".

Answer 7

Actually, there aren't even any vacuums.



There are near vacuums, but as far as areas occupied by matter vs areas not occupied by matter goes, even a bar of lead is mostly empty. People just aren't used to thinking like that because they're so much bigger than bars of lead that they look solid, and so much smaller than space that it looks empty.



Outer space is NOT a vacuum. Anywhere. Ever.



gravity, whatever it is, isn't interfered with by near-vacuums, but you can assume that it will usually be weaker where there is less matter.

Answer 8

what the?i getting dizzy right now with all of ur answer?so that mean my childhood is ruined. When i was a kid, my teacher told me that gravity does not exist in vacuum..so someone can u give me conclusion

Answer 9

There is gravity in a vaccum. Or else things suck as a pendulum placed in a vaccuum would not be able to continue going forever if it was gravity less the pendulum would just float there.

Answer 10

There is gravity in a vacuum.