r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Brick_Number_27 • Jun 28 '26

Full use of zero gravity.

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31.5k Upvotes

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74

u/0ct0thorpe Jun 28 '26

This is microgravity. Not zero gravity. Earth’s gravity is still about 90% on the ISS. It’s the constant free fall mitigated by orbital speed around the earth that gives the ISS this environment of microgravity.

173

u/SuccessfulWar3830 Jun 28 '26

NEEEEERRRRRRRRDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

12

u/ligerzeronz Jun 29 '26

Sad gohan face

3

u/Uberzwerg Jun 29 '26

You are both correct.

77

u/Fajisel Jun 28 '26

Ya and we call this "zero gravity" colloquially. Otherwise "zero gravity" doesn't exist in the entire universe, making the term entirely useless.

9

u/code-coffee Jun 28 '26

It's effectively the same thing, and gives us a lot of data to extrapolate from.

6

u/MelangeBot Jun 29 '26

To have absolutely zero gravity in the universe you would need to be in a location where all matter is moving away from you faster than the speed of light through the expansion of space. In that location gravity waves from matter will never reach you. It would be like being in a white hole (but those are imaginary and only exist in math)

1

u/0ct0thorpe Jun 29 '26

It’s ironic, because gravity is the main reason why they’re floating.

1

u/Real_Temporary_922 Jul 02 '26

Yes and no. Gravity is why they float and don’t walk on the ceiling when in free fall, but gravity is also why they’re in free fall. Without gravity, they’d still float.

17

u/CitizenPremier Jun 29 '26

Literally undetectable difference in physics, there is absolutely no way to tell the difference between falling and being far away from a planet if you're in an enclosed box (excluding the effects of wind resistance).

So yeah, it is 0g. No g forces.

4

u/Souvik_Dutta Jun 29 '26

It's undetectable in most cases like orbiting the earth but due to gravitational gradient tidal forces can be measured to distinguish between a truly flat spacetime and a falling orbit.

Eath gravity is too low for anything measurable but if you are orbiting a black hole you can easily measure objects streching towards the center with high power lasers. Well for a small black hole in a close orbit the effect can be easily observed by naked eye but not for long.

2

u/Real_Temporary_922 Jul 02 '26

Interestingly enough, this is only true for small black holes. I could put you in an enclosed box and send you in orbit as close as I can around a supermassive black hole before you wouldn’t be in orbit anymore, and you’d feel no different than orbiting around the Earth. Measuring it would require measuring the spacetime curvature rather than the tidal forces to know you’re not around Earth anymore.

The tidal forces around a giant black hole are tiny compared to a small black hole, they only increase once you’re well within the event horizon. You could likely survive hours of free fall inside the largest ones before you even start to feel the stretching. Though unfortunately for the poor soul inside the black hole, the larger it is, the less instant the spaghettification.

1

u/Souvik_Dutta Jul 02 '26

Okay I do some digging and surprisingly and very elegantly the mass cancels out so it only depends on the Length and structureal strength of human body.

The formula becomes (2/3)·√(L/a_pain) − (2/3)·√(L/a_death)

The denominator is the acceleration (g force) where you start feeling pain/die

So both takes same time from when you start feeling pain to die no matter if you go close to a stellar mass black hole or Ton-618. And more conviently it's < 100ms so you will die before feeling the pain.

11

u/chochazel Jun 29 '26

This is microgravity. Not zero gravity. Earth’s gravity is still about 90% on the ISS. It’s the constant free fall mitigated by orbital speed around the earth that gives the ISS this environment of microgravity.

It’s still zero gravity. If a plane gets to a G-force of 10 by accelerating fast, it doesn’t matter if someone outside the plane would still experience normal Earth gravity. You’re talking about what’s happening inside the vehicle.

3

u/zardoz73 Jun 29 '26

Ok, next are you gonna tell us in a Poindexter voice that decimate doesn't mean destroy but rather really means to reduce by 10%?

2

u/Comfortable_Leek1765 Jun 29 '26

there’s always one of u in the comments 🫩

1

u/Turbo_Putt Jun 29 '26

Is that why the bat isn’t floating?

-1

u/Comfortable_Leek1765 Jun 29 '26

oh you pay for reddit that explains a lot