A boat in zero gravity : would it sink?

[Churchill]

WHS

The radiation from nearby stellar objects would cause any fluids to boil away; eg, if you were to get a tear in your pressure suit if outside the Shuttle, you'd be ****ed.

Boiled - Shirley?

[AlfredJPruffock]

Everything being relative- depends which part of space you ship the boat to.

If the boat was transported appox 1.5 million miles from Earth (anti_sunwise) then left at point L2 (Lagrangian point 2) - the boat would be able to 'float' in an orbit for an immense amount of time - this is due to the fact that at L2 the next force of the gravity of the Sun and the Earth canel each other at this point.

A good place for UFOs to observe the Earth.

Next please.

Whats this - L2 ?


Aha - its called a Lagrangian Point.

The Lagrangian points are the five positions in an orbital configuration where a small object affected only by gravity can theoretically be stationary relative to two larger objects (such as a satellite with respect to the Earth and Moon).

The Lagrange points mark positions where the combined gravitational pull of the two large masses provides precisely the centripetal force required to rotate with them. They are analogous to geostationary orbits in that they allow an object to be in a "fixed" position in space rather than an orbit in which its relative position changes continuously.

[original PM]

comet moves towards sun

comet heats up

liquid turns to gas

thus tail is formed.

solar wind 'blows' steam away from sun

thus tail always points away from sun and gets longer as comet gets closer to sun (more heat more out gassing) and shorter as comets further away from sun (less heat less out gassing)

Brownian motion is only found in gases isn't it????????

[Churchill]

comet moves towards sun

comet heats up

liquid turns to gas

thus tail is formed.

solar wind 'blows' steam away from sun

thus tail always points away from sun and gets longer as comet gets closer to sun (more heat more out gassing) and shorter as comets further away from sun (less heat less out gassing)

Brownian motion is only found in gases isn't it????????

If it's so cold in space then why is the comet heating up?

[Menelaus]

Boiled - Shirley?

Thanks - yup.

[Menelaus]

Not wishing to put a downer on things but, given the hypothesised existence of "dark matter" surely there's no such thing as zero gravity?

[EternalOptimist]

You guys are talking about this as if its a thought experiment or something, but it has actually been done, and the answer was YES , it did sink, but only by about two centimetres.
When they landed their ship in the sea of tranquility in 1969, many feared it would sink without trace, but it didnt.

[TimberWolf]

Not wishing to put a downer on things but, given the hypothesised existence of "dark matter" surely there's no such thing as zero gravity?

The OP didn't specify zero gravity.

[Moscow Mule]

Yes, and how is the tail formed?

It's fascinating really...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet#Coma_and_tail

[Churchill]

The OP didn't specify zero gravity.

Oh yes they did, read the title of the question.

The moon doesn't have "Zero" gravity.