• Question: If the moon's gravity is pulling the sea ( making the tides) when i stand on a really slippy floor with really slippy socks on will the moon pull me?

    Asked by Kate and Peckasso :) to Chris, Josh, Rebecca, Susan on 24 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Josh Meyers

      Josh Meyers answered on 24 Jun 2015:

      No, you’d just fall over and then struggle to get back up again.

      You’re forgetting that the earth has a gravity much greater than the moons! and it is this that determines which way we go (downwards).

      Your mass and the earths gravity are too large for the moon to affect us. But if you took these away… Still I reckon the sun’s gravity would affect us more… but if you took that away… then sure, why not.

      So just destroy the earth and the sun and then put on a few pounds and yes, you will slide towards the moon on your slippy floor in your slippy socks.

    • Photo: Susan Cartwright

      Susan Cartwright answered on 24 Jun 2015:

      What the moon does to the tides is pull them outwards (the one under the moon is being pulled more strongly, the one on the other side is being left behind). This works for water because water has no intrinsic strength.
      The tides *try* to make you slightly taller when the Moon is either overhead or directly underfoot, but the effect over your height (as opposed to over the whole diameter of the Earth for the tides) is absolutely tiny.

    • Photo: Rebecca Dewey

      Rebecca Dewey answered on 25 Jun 2015:

      Yes it will do, a very tiny bit – it will try to stretch you and/or move you towards it. But by such a small amount and very very slowly so you will just get bored and go and put some clean socks on.

Comments