After reading and watching several weeks of news reports on the shuttle disaster, I have come to believe that the general public has a gross misunderstanding of how spaceships and satellites orbit the earth. Maybe this is not something we were taught in grade school (or even care about), but the answer is simple and interesting. Do we need a public awareness campaign? To find out, here is a quiz: Why do astronauts experience weightlessness while in orbit? All answers are welcome, no matter how wrong or creative, and please do not consult any outside sources. Anonymous replies are fine. Unless somebody beats me to it, I will supply a “correct” explanation next week.
Now back to your regularly-scheduled blog update… Today I committed a personal taboo: I used the phrase “touch base” while leaving a phone message
Yes, but did you give anyone a “heads up”? That one really pushes the gag button for me! By the way, Lili is just so darlin’!
Something to do with the shuttle moving at the same speed as the earth’s orbit? creating a zero gravity effect?
That’s my best scientific guess and I didn’t go to space camp like another reader I know 
The apparant weightlessness comes from the fact that both the astronauts and the shuttle are falling at the same rate towards the center of the earth. The orbit of both entities has a tangential component, thus giving the impression that the surface of the earth is ‘falling away’ at a very similar rate. With everything and everybody ‘falling,’ it gives the relative appearance of ‘weightlessness.’
I will not shoot myself for actually thinking about this as the second thing this morning. I was betting on more snow… and drank too much, but the snow isn’t as bad as anticipated, thus I must go to work hung over. *sigh* I chose… poorly.
It sounds like you create this dichotomy in which work force folks should be the only ones who use phrases such as touch base and phone tag and academics (or some other group) don’t.
As a person who falls under the former category, I actually try avoid those phrases too. Unfortunately, I do engage often in what is known to be called “phone tag” by some folks and slip on on that end every so often.
I don’t know, with the use of “dichotomy”, it sounds like you belong in academia!
The farther you get from the surface of the Earth, the less you weigh. (I.E. people weigh 1/20th their weight on the moon). Eventually you get so light that you just float. You have to control it or you will shoot off into the sun. Be careful.
Am I close?
I seem to recall a certain Dr. John Anderson using the terms “heads-up” and “touch-base” on more than one occasion.
If it’s good enough for one of the most respected living aeronautical engineers, well golly, it’s good enough for me.
p.s. Also I forgot to mention that it depends how heavy you are. A heavier person takes longer to become weightless than a lighter person. In a similar vein, if you were to catapult a cat into space (i.e. Otto), the feline would become weightless fairly soon, much sooner than a human launched at the same velocity and speed. This theorem can be expressed as follows, where H=weightlessness of human and C=weightlessness of cat:
H/0.58434 = 4/5 + C
Excellent. Tammy has confirmed my suspicion that the ol’ “there’s less gravity in space” explanation is commonly accepted. Sorry, but that’s completely wrong — where the shuttle orbits, gravity is nearly as strong as on the surface of the earth.
EYC got it right: objects in orbit are free-falling with gravity, and there’s almost nothing to “push back” like the ground or air resistance. Furthermore, orbiting objects tend to stay at the same altitude because they are moving forward so quickly that the earth’s surface “falls away” at the same speed they are falling toward it*. This is due to the earth’s curvature.
So for the extra points: If gravity is still pulling on an object in orbit (or a skydiver in the first few seconds of freefall, for that matter), why does the object or skydiver feel weightless?
* Assuming a circular orbit and a circular earth for clarity of explanation.
I do not know. But do I get some points for my original answer?
This is where I am right now. Are you jealous, young sir?
http://a-zcoronadohotels.com/hotelpages/loewscoronado.htm
Sorry, it’s actually 3/5 + C. Otherwise you would get the points.
Whaaaaaat are you doing in San Diego?! Never again may you call me “ridiculous” for going on trips. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to make plans for Ireland.
By the way, what reader went to Space Camp? I am jealous.
Doesn’t it have to do with the fact that everything around you is falling (or whatever) at the exact same rate as you are? Who the hell knows. Poor Dr. Anderson. He was very good for my sleep deficiency.
Mike went to space camp! And for the record, he knew the answer but it was pointless to post after the correct answer was already given. He learned it at space camp 
That’s what I was gonna say
In some odd way… I have validated the degrees from Maryland. I am forwarding this post to my mother.
To balance out the day’s posts, here is a test of my digital camera.
Awwww.
Looks like you need to turn the photo upside down.
The photo is sharp and very clear good job!
and cute cat!
The blog need some fresh news, but I’m tired and grumpy today — so get ready for a grumpy update. I wish my math classroom were equipped with some sort of trapdoor system with the lever positioned next to my desk. Sitting in the center of the front row every day is a former teacher’s pet (no doubt) who says, “uh huh,” “mm-hmmm,” “okay,” “yeah!” or vigorously nods his head in response to every other sentence the professor utters, as if this were some sort of personal tutoring session. Normally I wouldn’t mind, but this material is:
(a) dreadfully boring, and
(b) completely opaque unless you co-authored the book.
So either he is faking a deep understanding of convex functions, or he really enjoys tedious math and feels the need to share his enthusiasm with the rest of the class at 9 a.m. Either way, I feel an urge — nay, a duty — to expel him from the room after every “I see, professor!” In lieu of a trapdoor system, I’ve been devising a medieval-style catapult to launch this guy, chair and all, as far as Rantoul. Better yet, the device shall rise from the ashes of the failed Tau Beta Pi Punkin’ Chunkin’ trebuchet (”The Money Shot”) of 2000. In the meantime, I’ll be sucking down some Excedrins.
Ah yes… I forgot about the Money Shot. I only wish that that saw the light of day. I loved the name of that thing. Is this guy foreign? If he is, then I GUARANTEE you he understands the material. We foreigners have this random gene that lets us learn totally mundane stuff for no apparant reason. Don’t worry, I’ve already blamed my parents.
I don’t know, Glen– I used to nod my head in agreement/appreciation throughout all of my math courses. Sometimes I would spontaneously let out a “RIGHT ON!!!” or “FASCINATING!!!” as I sat there. I just couldn’t control it. Maybe this guy is really just into math.
and they want shoe pictures! So, here it is, a picture of my reception shoes.
These are the shoes that I’ll wear at the reception to ensure foot comfort. They’re like ballet slippers, and if you look closely, you can see daisies on the toes. For the wedding, I’ll probably buy strappy white shoes from Payless. Since the goal of these slippers is comfort, I’ll have to break them in before the wedding. They aren’t quite there yet!
Please ignore the strange purplish color of my feet. I don’t know why they look that way - they aren’t like that in real life
I have seen these shoes in person! Hurrah!
Neat! You’re gonna be all comfortable at the reception and I’m not! Hurrah!
i’d want my feet to pinch terribly on my wedding day–pinched feet mean you must be having a good time and wearing your good time shoes.
unfortunately wearing high heels to work means pinched feet every other day. I must be having a really good time!
Comment from Mother of the Bride on 28 Feb. 2003, 4:20 pm :
So, why aren’t you wearing them to the wedding? Do you want to fall off your shoes at church again!
Comment from Sister of the Bride on 28 Feb. 2003, 4:22 pm :
Hahahaha, that would be so funny. Rachel the clutz back and better than ever. It’s one thing to fall off your shoes when you get ready to leave the pews after church, but to fall on your walk down the aisle… priceless.
Comment from Rachel on 28 Feb. 2003, 4:41 pm :
I was thinking since I am a mere 5′3″, it might be nice to add a little height for the actual ceremony. You do bring up an interesting point about falling down in church though…
And Katie - It was in the middle of a hymn. No moving whatsoever…
Comment from Sister of the Bride on 28 Feb. 2003, 6:21 pm :
Are you sure you didn’t fall at the end of one too? I swear you did… however, the no moving is even funnier. Which brings up completely unrelated thoughts of you falling when I had an inch of water on the floor in the bakery, your poor little hand outstretched to reach the rack, but just out of arm’s length.
Oh yeah, and since when I are you 5′3″? I thought it was “5′2″ with shoes on”??