4 ms·
When I was 5 or 6 years old I was flying-sitting with my dad, as passengers, though he was an airline pilot, when we hit a pocket of "dead" air. Meals and drink
by loceng 3y ago
When I was 5 or 6 years old I was flying-sitting with my dad, as passengers, though he was an airline pilot, when we hit a pocket of "dead" air. Meals and drinks were just served. For what was at least 3-5 seconds all of the meal trays floated up, hovered and then thankfully relatively gently settled back down. My dad estimated we dropped 200 feet or so.
- mschuster91 3y agoYou've, technically, eaten food that was at zero gravity once for a short period of time.
- loceng 3y agoHehe. Thanks for that perspective.
- ceejayoz 3y agoFree-fall isn't zero-gravity, and anyone who observes the five-second rule has had a similar experience.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- colordrops 3y agoYes it is, didn't Einstein say that gravity and acceleration are indistinguishable
- someguyihope 3y ago"Zero-g" is different to "zero gravity". https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weightlessness https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weightlessness
- colordrops 3y agoThe whole microgravity thing is pedantic, yes tidal forces exist, but at human scales they are not detectable.
- ceejayoz 3y agoIn free-fall, the object is primarily being accelerated by gravity.
- colordrops 3y agoYes but this is indistinguishable from the perspective of the falling object.
- loceng 3y agoIf you're wanting to be so perfectionistic, five-second rule experiences is an apples to oranges comparison.
- mschuster91 3y agoRelatively to the aircraft, the food was zero gravity though?
- loceng 3y agohttps://www.gozerog.com/ https://www.gozerog.com/
- leoedin 3y agoBut by that argument neither is floating around in the ISS - you're still being accelerated by gravity, you're just in the fortunate position that you have enough velocity not to hit the earth. If the colloquial term "zero gravity" applies to someone in the ISS, then it also applies to someone in a suddenly dropping aircraft.
- MichaelZuo 3y agoPockets of ‘dead’ air are like the rogue waves of the aviation world. Rare but still happens once every few years.