> Hey
> I saw this show that talked about bacteria that are so small that they
> are not affected by gravity and freely float about. From what I read on
> this list in the past few months, shouldn't they be affected by the
> 'aether' all around us? Could it be that what they are made of is not
> affected by gravity? I apologize if I sound really stupid, but I
> imagine one of you would know why.
The bacteria get caught up in Brownian Motion, and become swept along by the
slightest wind, just like very fine dust - they can remain airborne for a
very long time. These other mechanical forces acting on the microscopic
particles simply overwhelm gravitation into near statistical
insignificance. There's nothing special about what the bacteria are made
of.
In another example, you don't see all of the carbon dioxide falling to the
bottom of the atmosphere toward earth and drowning all of humanity, even
though it is a heavy gas.
Doug