At What Altitude Do You Become Weightless?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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Any object that is falling freely is weightless, no matter where it happens to be. This can be the International Space Station at

a height of 200 miles

, a NASA reduced-gravity airplane at a height of several thousand feet, a drop tower at several hundred feet, or you jumping off a chair at 3 feet.

At what altitude does gravity become zero?

Near the surface of the Earth (sea level), gravity decreases with height such that linear extrapolation would give zero gravity at a height

of one half of the Earth’s radius

– (9.8 m·s

− 2

per 3,200 km.)

How far away from Earth do you have to be to feel weightless?

At

about 9,000 km

from Earth, you’d feel about half your weight on the earth’s surface. If you cut off the engines at any time, you’d feel weightless again.

What causes weightlessness in space?

Astronauts feel weightless

when there is nothing opposing the force of gravity

. … (B) An astronaut orbiting the Earth does feel weightless because there is no ground or normal force to counteract the force of gravity. Thus, the astronaut is falling.

Can there be zero gravity on Earth?

Description: The condition of apparent weightlessness occurs when a body in a gravitational field changes places to neutralize its gravitational force. For example, astronauts are seen floating around in the outer space because of this phenomenon. …

Zero gravity on earth is 0 m/s2

.

Why don’t we fall of the Earth?

A force called gravity is pulling you down towards the centre of the Earth. Anything with mass also has gravity, the more mass something has, the stronger the pull of gravity. … So we don’t fall off the Earth at the South Pole

because gravity is pulling us down towards the centre of the Earth

.

How far up is space?

Answer: Space is

62 vertical miles away

. It takes a lot of energy to overcome gravity for that distance and gain the speed required to stay in orbit (approximately 17,500 miles per hour) once you’ve arrived.

What does space smell like?

In a video shared by Eau de Space, NASA astronaut Tony Antonelli says space smells

“strong and unique

,” unlike anything he has ever smelled on Earth. According to Eau de Space, others have described the smell as “seared steak, raspberries, and rum,” smokey and bitter.

What happens if you float away in space?

You’d possibly be

spinning

. In space, no kicking and flailing can change your fate. And your fate could be horrible. At the right angle and velocity, you might even fall back into Earth’s atmosphere and burn up.

Are you weightless in deep space?

In orbit, there is only the gravitational force—leading to that feeling of weightlessness. Actually,

you don’t even need to be in orbit to feel weightless

. … Since you are at rest, the total force must be zero—that means the downward gravitational force pulling down is balanced by the upward pushing force from the floor.

Why is gravity 32?


Gravity will accelerate any object at a rate of 32 feet per second per second

. What it means is that if we fall for one second we’ll reach a speed of 32 feet per second. After two seconds we reach 64 feet per second. The speed rises as the square root of height, but in direct proportion to time.

What does it feel like in zero gravity?

“In weightlessness, you are effortlessly floating, because all of the acceleration forces on you add to zero. The most comparable feeling is

floating in water

without the sensation of water on your skin. Because you feel so light, you can move about with the slightest amount of effort.

What is a zero gravity position?

What is zero gravity position? In short, it involves

raising the head and knee line slightly above your heart, positioning the torso and legs

so they form roughly a 120-degree angle. And yes, it draws inspiration from going into space!

Can you fall off the moon?

Although

you can jump very high on the moon

, you’ll be happy to know that there’s no need to worry about jumping all the way off into space. In fact, you’d need to be going very fast – more than 2 kilometres per second – to escape from the moon’s surface.

Why is Australia not upside down?

Remember that the Earth is a sphere, like a giant ball: so there is no “up” or “down”, since

a sphere is symmetric

. That is, it looks the same no matter what way you look at it. So, people in Australia have just as much right to call themselves “up” as people in the Northern Hemisphere do!

Why don’t we feel the Earth spinning?


Earth moves very fast

. It spins (rotates) at a speed of about 1,000 miles (1600 kilometers) per hour and orbits around the Sun at a speed of about 67,000 miles (107,000 kilometers) per hour. We do not feel any of this motion because these speeds are constant.

Charlene Dyck
Author
Charlene Dyck
Charlene is a software developer and technology expert with a degree in computer science. She has worked for major tech companies and has a keen understanding of how computers and electronics work. Sarah is also an advocate for digital privacy and security.