I understand why astronauts orbiting the earth are weightless since they are in constant freefall. But why are the astronauts who went to the moon weightless?
I imagine that as you accelerate away from the earth towards the moon, you are no longer falling but are instead climbing. Intuitively, I think that this would give you some kind of gravity. Coming back I would think that you are constantly falling towards the earth, so I understand how the return journey would be weightless.
In: Physics
the moon has its own gravity, it is just a fraction of our own (I think 1/7th or so), so once you’re on the moon you are indeed not “weightless”. but you are “lighter”.
gravity is essentially just a form of acceleration, so if you accelerate in some direction you will experience more or less gravity (depending on your situation and the direction you’re accelerating to).
when you’re “falling” you’re NOT weightless. falling means you’re getting accelerated towards something.
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