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Okay, I confess that I was trolling with my first contribution this morning. But I got no bites, so I'll go ahead and reveal the 3rd question ...
I wrote:
You are in a rocket whose motors are producing precisely enough thrust to cause it to accelerate at 9.8 m/s^2. You are standing on a scale on the floor that reads the same weight that it does when used on the surface of the Earth.
Question 1: Does anyone have any qualms whatsoever about calling what you are experiencing a gravitational force that is every bit as "real" as any gravitational force can possibly be?
Question 2: Does anyone have any qualms whatsoever about saying that you find there to be a gravitational field of 9.8 N/kg directed toward the floor of the rocket?
Question 3: Does it affect your answer to either of Questions 1 or 2 to know that when you look out the window of the rocket you discover that you are merely hovering a few meters above the Earth's surface?
I simply love this image and I think that careful consideration of the hovering rocket scenario is helpful in beginning to appreciate both the fact that the gravitational field is frame-dependent.
John Mallinckrodt
Cal Poly Pomona
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