QUAINT PRODIGY
CHAPTER
24
INDEX
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Gravity not as it seems
The men that ascended the slopes of Mount Everest experienced in no uncertain way that as one recedes from the center of gravity so his supply of essential air also diminishes, and that ascended into thinner and thinner air, their much needed warmth in temperature declined to accompany them.
But they had one advantage, or at least so they reasoned, that as they ascended the force of gravity diminished giving them less weight to carry.
Quaint
is it not, that we know all these things, yet we do not know just how or why it
is colder up in these higher elevations, or by what factor of nature the air is
so much thinner, and how even our reasoning concerning gravity can be in error.
When
we say that the gravitational attraction at the poles is less than that at the
equator, we are speaking correctly.
And if we credit it to the oblation of the earth, its not worth the argument to
prove otherwise since there are better examples by which the reality of gravity
may be demonstrated.
An airplane stays in the air because so we reason its weight is carried upon its wings creating a pressure differential within the air through which it moves. And while this is correct, that is not the only reason that it stays so well in flight.
The added advantage of the apparent loss of its weight in higher altitudes and its high speed also serve to counteract the ever-present gravitational pull.
A stone has no wings, and yet when cast into the air it counteracts gravity until its velocity drops below the point of equivalence. A bullet then is like the stone except that its velocity is sufficient to catch up with any airplane except of course the SR-71, it being able to attain a velocity to outrun a bullet.
As then the bullet has no need of wings to remain aloft, why should the
SR-71 require wings to stay aloft?
This point then is well taken, it in effect partly maintains altitude by
its velocity even as the bullet does, or a stone cast in the air.
The bullet now attains to its velocity by a most curious and marvelous phenomena in nature, a blast of gunpowder, the real nature of which is still shrouded in mystery.
The SR-71 on the other hand utilizes the stages of three engines in one to come to its velocity, starting out with a mere Jet propulsion to come to a ram-jet, an engine with no moving parts sustained by the velocities and pressure of speed alone.
But
shall now the firing of the bullet in principle be so much different from the
tactics, which Kelly Johnson employed to bring his SR-71 to its great fame?
Wings, as we thus have noted is not the only factor to maintain a weight at a stand-off with gravity, yet it may surprise us to learn that instead of a lower gravitational force in those higher altitudes, objects are under a higher gravitational duress.
While we sit and watch television, the gravitational attraction on us is
less than it is on the satellite that bounced the signal to our dishes.
There are a lot of surprises when we dig into the fundamentals of nature. We have learned that gravitational force is directly related to three factors, which are Inertia, magnetic force, and the impact of what is called a centrifugal force.
And although for simplicity sake I have stated that gravitational force
is proportionally augmented to by centrifugal force, this is not always
proportional under all circumstances.
We must not forget that centrifugal force and gravitational attraction are two distinct entities who contribute to one another by the relevance of each their own particular nature of being.
Reference
figure 24-1:
Now let us take this object and put it into orbit some 4,000 km up. This will double the radius to a diameter of 8.000 km, and in order to maintain the same position over the earth its velocity will have to be doubled also. The object at location D now has a speed of 2,000 km/hr.
As then speed squares the force of 100 to 400, and the greater radius
divides the 400 down to 200, the object is now under a centrifugal duress twice
as great as before.
How much then may the gravitational force be upon it when our object now
stays in orbit, holding its altitude?
The answer of course is 200 lb., giving it a net weight of zero lbs. In other words, it lost its weight while both gravitational and centrifugal forces increased upon it.
Accordingly if in 4,000 km it went from 20 lb. to zero lb., should it not
at a half way point of 2,000 km go to a half weight measure of 10 lb.?
At a radius of 12.000 km the speed would come to 1,500 km/hr which then
comes to a centrifugal pull of 125 lb., with gravity at 135 lb.
Thus it demonstrates that at higher altitudes when the gravitational pull appears to be less, weight showing a lower measure of gravity, the gravitational pull is in effect higher since also the centrifugal impact is greater augmenting the pull of gravity.
If then weight is held as a measure of g/force, weight increases as speed increases. And we are in error to claim that at higher altitudes our weight would be less.
The figures here then are only for the example, realistically for the object to maintain altitude at location D it needs a much greater impact of centrifugal pull to balance out against the consequential increase of gravitational pull.
This is awarded in the difference in which force multiplies with radius
verses speed. Radius
multiplies or divides by a factor of 2, while speed does the same, but by a
factor of 4.
This
again is found in the fact that "radius" is a single factor, while
speed in the essence of inertia is a dual factor.
Radius counts only an angular moment, while inertia combines angular
momentum with linear momentum squaring the resultant.
When we place the two forces centrifugal and gravity under close relative scrutiny, we find that both are directly effected by angular moment and inertia. But while gravity is bound to a central point effecting its moment from a single secured point, centrifugal force has no real center on or by which it is effected.
Movement or inertia in itself has no criteria for the effect we call centrifugal, or for gravity, but angular moment has. For however fast an object moves, a centrifugal impact will not set in until a change in direction is made.
In other words, unless we turn into eternity we shall never find home, a
riddle quaintly put.
The
basis of centrifugal duress thus is in radius, in the degree angular moment
supplemented by inertia, the center of the radius being hollow as nothing more
than incidental.
Gravity on the other hand has at least a real center even though its
basis is also on the degree angular moment supplemented by inertia.
