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Just watched an old Veritasium video about how gravity is an illusion, that the ground we walk on is actually pushing us up, etc. If gravity isn't a force, what is the explanation for a launching astronaut being "pushed" into his seat by G "force"? Shouldn't he feel like he's stationary?

@poemblaze lol. Sorry. That’s all the physics I know. But it does seem like you’ve fallen down a bit of a rabbit hole. Hopefully someone can help you.

@misslovelymess It's my own fault. Or is it the fault of Derek from Veritasium?

@poemblaze Forking Derek.

Although I will say, should you pose this question when more folks are active, I’m sure someone can explain it to you.

@poemblaze I will admit, my brain shuts down when thinking about big physics questions.

I know the answer involves mathing,

@misslovelymess I've gotten feedback from one person who knows what he's talking about. Late at night is when we think of these questions.

@poemblaze If the acceleration of the rocket were limited to 9.8m/s^2, the astronaut wouldn't feel any different. But launches aren't limited in that way, acceleration is much higher, so the astronaut feels much heavier in their seat.

@NoahPaulLeGies But why? If gravity isn't actually a force, what causes that effect?

@NoahPaulLeGies I know it has to do with inertial forces, but I'm having trouble teasing that apart since the astronauts are travelling up.

@poemblaze The direction has nothing to do with it. Inertia is inertia, no matter which way you go. An airplane diving will still press you into your seat if it's accelerating fast enough.

@poemblaze What the astronaut is feeling is acceleration forces, which are measured in G's, but are not gravity.

What is pushing on the astronaut is the jillion pounds of accelerant being fired to counteract the acceleration force of the planet's mass and her own and the space-ships' mass "falling" toward one another.

I'm not sure what they mean by gravity "isn't a force", but it is an effect that exerts force.

@AskTheDevil That makes sense. Relativity is confusing. How can the surface of the globe all be accelerating "up" while it remains the same size?

@poemblaze It's not accelerating up. It's accelerating towards all the other mass, which from the surface of the Earth looks like "down" to us, because the "falling" or acceleration is mostly towards the center of the Earth's mass.

There was a good video a few years back. If I can find it I'll post it. : )

@AskTheDevil So everything is going toward a Catholic church? 😏

@poemblaze 😆 Well, most things only go on the big holidays.

; )

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