One-Way Ticket South

A simple observation of the fellow, who, after a slight bonk on the head, made the decision to delve into extensive research on the subject of falling apples combined with the velocity changes that occur as it is pulled toward the ground was earth shattering and has inspired me to look at this particular law of physics in a closer light.

Who would have guessed that I might be interested in examining the significance of gravity up close and personally?  Frankly, anyone who is over a certain age and has taken two seconds to look, wearing their birthday suit, in the mirror and is frightened to see the implication and unshakable proof of Sir Isaac Newton’s findings may want to follow along and make their flight arrangements now to the moon.

The technical prose for Newton’s law of gravity is: “In popular language, mass and weight are often used to mean the same thing; in reality they are related but quite different things.  What we commonly call weight is really just the “gravitational force” exerted on an object of a certain mass.  Thus, the weight of an object of mass ‘m’ at the surface of the Earth is obtained by multiplying the mass ‘m’ by the acceleration due to gravity, ‘g’, at the surface of the Earth.  The acceleration due to gravity is approximately the product of the universal gravitational constant ‘G’ and the mass of the Earth ‘M’, divided by the radius of the Earth, ‘r’, squared.  (We assume the Earth to be spherical and neglect the radius of the object relative to the radius of the Earth in this discussion.)  The measured gravitational acceleration at the Earth's surface is found to be about 980 cm/second/second.”

Translate this mumble-jumble jargon and the truth of the matter is that you get old and everything heads south - quickly.  Similar to global warming, this may be an unexpected phenomenon that is attempting (and succeeding) to drag my perkiness down to the level of my belly button.

I saw additional proof of gravitational incidence when I watched the recent Super Bowl half-time show starring The Rolling Stones.  Mick Jagger had skin flapping in the breeze that wasn’t there 30 years ago.  There are regular folk who are going under the knife to nip, tuck and hide the inevitable.

This doesn’t work for me, I want to be proactive, but have my limits.  There are alternatives I suggest we try: (a) stand on our heads so that everything falls back into its rightful place; (b) plan to vacation on the Moon.  If you put the same object on the Moon and weighed it, its weight would be 1/6 the weight on Earth.  In other words, a 180-pound man would only weigh 30 pounds on the Moon and the acceleration of gravity on the Moon is 1/6 of the value on the Earth giving us much more time to enjoy the proper proximity of pertinent portals; or (c) sit back and enjoy science manifesting and revealing itself in your presence and knowing that you are comfortable in your own skin, even though it might not fit the same way it did a few years ago.

Thank you Sir Isaac for helping us validate that what goes up must come down, putting a name to it and giving us an explanation to what we see in our reflection… gravity sounds better and makes it a bit easier to justify getting older.

Cynthia A. McClelland, curious observer of the obvious with interpretations of the oddities of daily life.  Mother, wife and lover of the furry, resides in the north Lake Tahoe area.

Cynthia A. McClelland © 2003-