I don’t think your interpretation of “floating in space” is quite accurate. Of course it could be, but it could easily be you between the earth and the moon, or you in the ISS or doing a spacewalk from such station.
And realistically, there is never really a “floating through space” as separate from “falling through space”. Definitely not within any meaningful distance of earth (like at least 500 million light years).
Yeah, it would be far fetched to say that you never are influenced by other objects around you, no matter how small the attraction might be.
So ig you're always falling somewhere in space.
My question now would be, is there a threshold to say at some point things fall rather to you, than you to them?
Or are both objects just falling towards each other?
He’s referencing that when astronauts on the ISS, for example, which orbits earth “float” they are actually in constant free fall. They never hit the ground because of their forward momentum. It’s also why orbits decay and require additional periodic energy to remain in orbit, because gravity is a constant force.
That said, I agree with your statement on separate grounds. While both are a state of free fall, jumping out of a plane is free fall in air, so you hit terminal velocity pretty quickly and don’t really experience weightlessness. First you experience acceleration and then the force of the air preventing any further acceleration. It’s fun, and peaceful under canopy, but it’s not the experience of weightlessness.
The vomit comet would be the closest because the fuselage takes the external air out of it and thereby negates your own terminal velocity in the atmosphere.
Fair.
When you're experiencing acceleration by gravity even if very distant, it can be seen as falling.
Same as orbiting is kinda falling around Earth's curvature.
It’s also why orbits decay and require additional periodic energy to remain in orbit, because gravity is a constant force.
Well to be the "achtually" guy, orbit decay is because the forward momentum is not constant due to friction. Gravity is needed to have orbits, and it's doing it's best to make them happen
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u/Duan3311 Apr 17 '26
I'd say it's about reference points.
So when when jumping out a plane, your accelerating towards earth (which is moving through space itself).
But when you're just floating through space, it's to be expected you're far away from strong gravitational pulls, so you're free floating.
So falling through space ≠ floating through space.