Earth-orbiting astronauts are weightless for
the same reasons that riders of a free-falling amusement park ride or a
free-falling elevator are weightless. They are weightless because there
is no external contact force pushing or pulling upon their body. In each
case, gravity is the only force acting upon their body. Being an
action-at-a-distance force, it cannot be felt and therefore would not
provide any sensation of their weight. But for certain, the orbiting
astronauts weigh something; that is, there is a force of gravity acting
upon their body. In fact, if it were not for the force of gravity, the
astronauts would not be orbiting in circular motion. It is the force of
gravity that supplies the centripetal force requirement to allow the inward acceleration
that is characteristic of circular motion. The force of gravity is the
only force acting upon their body. The astronauts are in free-fall. Like
the falling amusement park rider and the falling elevator rider, the
astronauts and their surroundings are falling towards the Earth under
the sole influence of gravity. The astronauts and all their surroundings
- the space station with its contents - are falling towards the earth without colliding it Their tangential velocity allows them to remain in orbital motion while the force of gravity pulls them inward. |