Why is it that the Earth’s gravity is powerful enough to pull aeroplanes down from the sky if they didn’t move fast enough yet we can easily raise our arms in the air without feeling any force pulling on them?

Question

Why is it that the Earth’s gravity is powerful enough to pull aeroplanes down from the sky if they didn’t move fast enough yet we can easily raise our arms in the air without feeling any force pulling on them?

In: Physics

Answer 1

Airplanes weigh a lot more than your arms. The overall force due to gravity increases with the amount of “stuff” being pulled by gravity. Clouds, for example, are “big” but don’t compromise of much “stuff” so they are pulled down comparatively little