Science for Cats
How Does Gravity Really Works?
Welcome to the first issue of Science for Cats, where you, a cat, will learn the mysterious ways of science in words that even your human servants will understand!
Today’s topic is: gravity (not to be confused with the award-winning 2013 film of the same name.)
I know, I know — you don’t give a damn about any of this because you always land on your feet, but be aware, gravity is important (besides, you’ll be able to impress your feline friends with your newly-acquired knowledge.)
So, moving on!
What is gravity and why does it matter?
Simple! See it as if your body was made out of metal and the floor is a giant magnet. Each time you jump, you’ll get pulled back to the ground. And no matter how much you try, you’ll always get back to the floor.
That magnetic force is called gravity!
But wait, that sounds quite frustrating, doesn’t it? An invisible force that keeps you subdued to the ground?
Not cool!
So you say… but then let’s try to imagine a world without gravity. With nothing keeping you firmly attached to the ground, you would float around and bump into stuff, causing a mess as you try to control your airborne body. Even worse, you would fly away into space where there’s no food or catnip, and what a cruel life it would be without any of those things!
Seriously, I’m not playing around when I say gravity is important.
But where does it come from?
Simply put, from the center of the Earth. Not so simply put, every single planet in the Solar System produces gravity that pulls stuff towards its very core. And guess what? The Earth is a planet! So everything on it gets pulled towards its center. Luckily for you, and all of us, the surface stops us from falling all the way to the core of the planet, which is made out of molten stuff — it’s very hot there, not a nice place to go.
Ready to get your brain bent a bit? Alright, here’s the thing: everything that has mass, produce gravity.
Woah, woah, hold it right there, Mr. Science Cat! What in the world is this mass you speak of?
What is mass?
Again, simply put, mass is the amount of stuff you’re made of! You, as the cat you are, you’re made out of bones, muscle, fur and some other gooey things.
The combined amount of all of that stuff is called mass, and it’s measured in kilograms or pounds. Of course, humans had to complicate things even more, so, instead of stuff, they call it matter.
Summed up, the amount of matter you’re made of is called mass.
Going forward from that idea, if you look at everything around you, you’re not the only one made of matter — made out of stuff! Think about it. A mouse is made of matter (very appetizing matter, generally;) a ball of yarn is made of matter; that dog who annoys you on a daily basis is made of matter; even your silly human is made of matter.
Rule of thumb: if you can touch it, it certainly is made of matter.
But, wait! You said that everything that has mass produce gravity. Does that mean that all of those things produce gravity?
Short answer: Yes.
Then why don’t I get pulled towards them?
Because they’re too small — they don’t have enough mass! And something would need to have lots of mass to create gravity strong enough to pull stuff towards it. Just look at the Earth — it’s massive! (See what I did there? Massive? As in too much mass? Anyone? OK, forget it.)
How much do you weight? I average, cats weight around 4 or 5 kilos (if you weigh more than that, I have bad news for you, my friend.) Earth, however, it weighs 6,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000 kilograms. No, I didn’t write a random number of zeroes — that’s six septillion kilograms. That’s just how much mass something would have to have to start pulling things towards it.
But don’t be fooled, my meowing fellow! Even if you can’t feel it, everything produces gravity.
By the way, have you seen the Moon? I bet you’ve tried to grab it, you mischievous cat! But, as you might had found out already, no matter how high you jump, you can’t reach it. It looks small, yes, but it’s because it’s too far. In fact, the Moon is actually really, really BIG.
Wait, does that mean it has a lot of matter?
Yup.
So, does that mean it has a lot of mass?
Correct.
Whaaaat? Does that mean that the Moon produces gravity?
Exactly!
Whaaaaaaaaaaat? Get outta ‘ere!
Ah! What a skeptic cat you are… I like that! But don’t worry, there’s actually something you can do to check this by yourself.
The gravity of the Moon and the ocean waves.
When you, in all your infinite kindness, take your human servants to the beach for the weekend, you’ll see that the tide rise overnight. You know why? Because, as the Moon crosses the sky overnight its strong gravity pulls the sea water towards it — upwards. The higher the Moon is in the sky, the higher the tide, and vice versa.
So, if you find some morning joy in the sorrow of your humans when they grief over their washed out sandcastle, you have the Moon to thank for it!
But why doesn’t the ocean water flies up into the sky and onto the Moon?
Even if the Moon is really big, the Earth is even bigger and its gravity stronger; hence it pulls the water back to the ocean floor. See? Each night, the Moon tries to steal our ocean water, but the Earth won’t let it.
In your face, Moon!
But hey, we should also feel pity for the Moon — it’s jus looking for fun stuff to do overnight since it actually is a prisoner of the Earth. It spins and spins around it, trying to escape and roam freely around space, but the Earth has such a strong pull that it won’t let it.
It’s not like it’s the Earth’s fault anyway, it can’t control its gravity. And yet you thought that they were always together out of a strong friendship.
There’s always more than meet the eye, huh?
Conclusion
So, by now, you probably have learned something new! Or maybe not… anyways, here’s a summary that might come in handy:
- There is a magnetic force that pulls us to the ground — Earth’s gravity.
- Not only the Earth produces this force — everything that is made out of matter has mass, and anything with mass produces gravity.
- More mass means stronger gravity.
- Mass can be measured in kilograms or pounds.
And that’s it! Easy stuff for a smart cat like you, huh? Now, it might be farewell time for now, but don’t be sad… there’s more issues coming soon! I’m still sorting out the topics so it doesn’t get messy — like it always does.
Follow me to get notified when the next issue comes out, or subscribe for goodies! And while you’re at it, why not recommend this story and help some more cats learn cool stuff?
