IMO, the sphere would be thrown away from Earth if it was decoupled from
earths gravity at the equator. I read somewhere that the centrifugal force
exerted on matter by the spin of the earth has been measured. From memory,
a 1 pound mass weighed at the poles would be 15 and 9/10 onces weighed at
the equator. I guess the 1/10 once represents the centrifugal force
component acting on the mass at the equator. That would mean that all mass
at the Earths equator would weigh 1/160th less than its weight at the poles
(16 ounces/0.1 ounce = 160). This would mean that your 1 Ton sphere would
be experiencing a force of 1/160th Ton vectored away from Earths equator if
it was decoupled, somehow, from Earths gravity. If 1 Ton (long) = 2240
pounds, then the gravitationally decoupled 1 Ton sphere would be thrown
away from Earth (at the equator) with a force of 2240/160 = 14 pounds.
I'll try to dig up the related article, although it isn't that difficult to
calculate the centrifugal force acting on a mass at the equator - afterall,
we do know the Earths radius and rotational period, therefore we can
calculate centifugal force exerted on a mass at the equator (or any other
position on the Earth).
Regards, Bill.
At 12:37 28/10/99 +1300, you wrote:
>If the sphere should shoot away from the earth you should be able to measure
>it's desire to shoot away now. Is there any difference if we change the
>sizes of the spheres so they all have the same weight?
>As soon as we take away the attactive force of the earth, I don't think
>anything spectacular would happen, unless we discover that the spheres are
>indeed trying to fly off the earth due to the centrifugal forces at the
>equator (but we should be able to measure that now).
>Does matter weigh more or less as you move it around the earth? Does a rock
>weigh more at the poles than it does at the equator? I don't know the
>answers to these questions but the answers would immediately give a clue as
>to what would happen to the spheres.
>
>I better stop rambling....
>
>Colin M......
>
>
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