33 Science -- Force

An astronaut is said to be weightless when he/she travels on a satellite. Does it mean that the earth does not attract him or her?

An astronaut is said to be weightless when he/she travels on a satellite. Does it mean that the earth does not attract him or her?

The sense of weightlessness in orbiting satellites is because of the lack of any contact forces. The only force that acts upon humans in space is the force of gravity, which acts at a distance; but as there is no counter-force, we do not experience the sensation of weight over there. The counter or force-of-contact is missing because everything that floats in space does so due to the acceleration due to gravity being the same. Thus, both the astronaut and the satellite have the same value of g, which is again equal to the centripetal acceleration of the satellite. These two neutralize each other, causing everything to appear weightless.

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