I'm a laymen in your field so I'm sure that's why it doesnt bother me nearly as much. I'm curious though about your comment on the sun, isnt the suns gravity holding the planet in its orbit as the sun travels through space? I seems like even if not technically correct the term "dragging" would fit the bill wouldnt it?
The Sun does not "drag" the planets. That would imply there is some force holding them back. The planets orbit freely, and they are all (approximately) in the same plane (the ecliptic) like a huge dinner plate with the Sun in the middle.
The Sun and the planets all move together in their Galactic orbit. There is no cone shaped structure and there are no plasma tubes that change the Sun's movement. The whole Solar system glides majestically along through the vacuum of interstellar space. It does not move around in weird ways, it just keeps gliding along through the Galaxy in the same direction. The Sun's gravity holds the Solar system together and keeps the planets in their (roughly) circular orbits.
Further, to the best of our knowledge the Sun has not significantly changed its color in the last couple of hundred million years. It's been pretty darn close to white the whole time.
Also, the Earth is a globe, not that Clif has any problem with that statement! :)
Arent there other forces of gravity from things like super massive black holes at the center of the galaxy that also apply a force on the planets in our solar system? So if hypothetically you had a switch that could turn off the effect of gravity produced by the sun alone (including current inertia so everything doesnt just fly off in the direction they where already moving) would the objects effected by the sun's gravity take the same path through the galaxy as the sun was already on, or are they only on that path because the sun's gravity is strong enough to keep them there?
So basically I'm asking if two opposing gravities could create drag or is that not a properly defined term to talk about the way those forces interact? Cliff is a really hands on and creative guy and I can see that come out in lots of what he says that isnt quite accurate but at the same time is very interesting and thought provoking, lol.
I'm a laymen in your field so I'm sure that's why it doesnt bother me nearly as much. I'm curious though about your comment on the sun, isnt the suns gravity holding the planet in its orbit as the sun travels through space? I seems like even if not technically correct the term "dragging" would fit the bill wouldnt it?
The Sun does not "drag" the planets. That would imply there is some force holding them back. The planets orbit freely, and they are all (approximately) in the same plane (the ecliptic) like a huge dinner plate with the Sun in the middle.
The Sun and the planets all move together in their Galactic orbit. There is no cone shaped structure and there are no plasma tubes that change the Sun's movement. The whole Solar system glides majestically along through the vacuum of interstellar space. It does not move around in weird ways, it just keeps gliding along through the Galaxy in the same direction. The Sun's gravity holds the Solar system together and keeps the planets in their (roughly) circular orbits.
Further, to the best of our knowledge the Sun has not significantly changed its color in the last couple of hundred million years. It's been pretty darn close to white the whole time.
Also, the Earth is a globe, not that Clif has any problem with that statement! :)
The planets are always falling toward the sun, they actually teach gravity with those terms if you take astronomy classes.
Arent there other forces of gravity from things like super massive black holes at the center of the galaxy that also apply a force on the planets in our solar system? So if hypothetically you had a switch that could turn off the effect of gravity produced by the sun alone (including current inertia so everything doesnt just fly off in the direction they where already moving) would the objects effected by the sun's gravity take the same path through the galaxy as the sun was already on, or are they only on that path because the sun's gravity is strong enough to keep them there?
So basically I'm asking if two opposing gravities could create drag or is that not a properly defined term to talk about the way those forces interact? Cliff is a really hands on and creative guy and I can see that come out in lots of what he says that isnt quite accurate but at the same time is very interesting and thought provoking, lol.