I am writing this as Richard Branson is about to take off in his rocket plane and make a trip to the "edge of space".
Really? The edge of space? To visualize how far they are going from earth, do this:
1. Draw a circle of diameter 80 mm.
2. Place a dot 0.5 mm above the top of the circle.
That is how far they are going into "space".
We also hear about them experiencing weightlessness, with the implication being that there is no gravity where they are going. Wrong!
If you weight 100 lbs on the surface of earth, you will weight, wait for it, 99.6 lbs where they are going.
They experience weightlessness for 4 minutes because they are in free fall for that amount of time.
By this definition, everyone has experienced weightless if they have ever jumped in the air. I used to do trampoline. I calculated that I was weightless for 1/2 a second every time I jumped 8 ft off the mat.
So, what we have here, in my opinion, is all about a billion dollar carnival ride.
Edited: Corrected some numbers.
Bob
Really? The edge of space? To visualize how far they are going from earth, do this:
1. Draw a circle of diameter 80 mm.
2. Place a dot 0.5 mm above the top of the circle.
That is how far they are going into "space".
We also hear about them experiencing weightlessness, with the implication being that there is no gravity where they are going. Wrong!
If you weight 100 lbs on the surface of earth, you will weight, wait for it, 99.6 lbs where they are going.
They experience weightlessness for 4 minutes because they are in free fall for that amount of time.
By this definition, everyone has experienced weightless if they have ever jumped in the air. I used to do trampoline. I calculated that I was weightless for 1/2 a second every time I jumped 8 ft off the mat.
So, what we have here, in my opinion, is all about a billion dollar carnival ride.
Edited: Corrected some numbers.
Bob
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