Re: Thought experiment
Russell Garber ( (no email) )
Wed, 27 Oct 1999 05:24:05 -0400
Hi Dave!
I think the reason why you are not getting as many responses on this as you
would like is because the answer is not an easy one, mainly due to a lack
of information in other areas. Do we know for certain that gravity has
nothing to do with magnetism or the electrical properties of elements? Do
we know for certain that gravity has nothing to do with the atomic bonds of
elements (assuming that this pad would negate all gravity and not just that
of Earth)? I for one do not know those answers. Also, we would have to
know the motion of the universe as a whole to be able to answer the
question. The Earth rotates on it's axis, and orbits around the Sun, which
itself, has it's own path to travel throughout the galaxy, and the galaxy
rotates around it's center, and it travels on it's own path throughout the
universe, etc., etc. Inertia tells us that an object in motion tends to
stay in motion, in a straight line until another force acts upon it, so
without knowing the overall speeds and directional motion of the universe,
we could not predict exactly what the objects would do, as we do not know
what straight line they would be trying to follow, and if magnetism is not
affected, we do not know if the overall speed would be able to overcome the
magnetic attraction of the Earth's pole (on the iron). The only answer I
could give is that the objects would move in some direction until they go
off the pad, and fall to the ground (again assuming that gravity does not
affect the atomic bonds of the elements). Some of the answers may be able
to be answered in space, but again even in space you are not completely
free from gravity. The only real way to answer the question would be to
experiment with such a device. Hopefully some day, we will have such a
device, as it in itself could give us a lot of information. In any case,
it is an interesting and thought provoking question.
-Russ
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