I think that I have outdone myself on dumb questions and stupid scenarios here! 

(My last question dealt with the sky stairway)

This months dumb question and stupid scenario is: The earth rotates at or around 1,000 mph, correct?

Now, let's say that I invented a machine that when activated, would nullify gravity.

The Dumb Questions .. of which there are three:   

1) If I were to take my 'machine' outside and flipped the anti gravity switch .. would the machine Rocket itself into outer space?

2) If it were to Rocket into space .. at what speed would it do so?

3) Now for a worst case scenario, (and the reason for the 1,000 mph rotation mentioned above) .. If the anti gravity machine just hovered, slightly above the terrain when activated .. wouldn't those skyscrapers and mountains .. rushing at you at 1,000 mph present a problem?   

I can assure you of one thing .. whichever scenario happens to be the correct one .. I wont be 'sitting' in the machine when the switch is flipped!

I Warned you about the stupid questions part!   

I can see the wife need to find something for you to do.   

But if she does not when you biuld it and activate it, let me know how it came out.   

walkstall .. She wanted me to scrub the toilets but I told her that I was working on something important!

I did figure out how to overcome one of the problems though!

I could schlep my machine to either the North or South pole before I threw the switch!

To answer all three questions, no, nothing would happen.
All you would see happen, is a machine that weighs in around a ton, suddenly become the same weight as the atmosphere around it, or rather air surrounding you.
In other words, it's like letting go of a dust particle, it doesn't suddenly pick up 1000 mph velocity.

Thing is .. If you are weightless and gravity isn't holding you in some way (even dust particles are affected by gravity) .. the earth is rotating at 1,000 mph.

If You aren't moving .. the earth sure is.

One of my favorite Sci Fi writers and Professor of biochemistry, Issac Asimov did a short story (that he almost called dirty pool but didn't) that dealt with something like this.

The Billard Ball is the story of a journalist's recollection of the events surrounding the discovery of an anti-gravity device in the mid-21st century.

Heavy with physics theory, the story describes the relationship between the creator of the device, the billionaire inventor Edward Bloom, and his former classmate James Priss, a Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist who had discovered most of the theory that made the device possible.

The men are expert billiards players and bitter rivals. Challenged to execute a shot on a table which is equipped with the device, Priss sends a ball on a complicated trajectory which finishes when it enters the device's field.

At that point the ball vanishes and Bloom collapses, dead. There is a mysterious hole drilled completely through his chest.

Central to the story is the concept of a pure anti-gravity machine that turns out to be a perpetual motion machine of the 1st order.

Energy can be freely created in a volume of space time which is pulled 'flat' as defined within the Theory of Relativity as determined by Einstein.

However, this field possesses remarkable properties, which are the centerpiece of the story: any object which enters the field is reduced to zero mass, and hence must assume the speed of light.

There is also the unprovable speculation as to whether Priss knew, from his own theory and the nature of the blue glow produced by the field (possibly due to Cherenkov radiation), what would happen, and if he then directed the ball in such a way as to kill Bloom.

Asimov himself had some reservations about the name of the story, and noted that his friend Frederik Pohl's suggested title of "Dirty Pool" was far better than his own. The story retains its title despite the feeling of its author, as he preferred to remain consistent.

Neat Huh?

For a fun read .. I found Asimov's short story The Billiard Ball .. in it's entirety, on line .. Here:  http://www.e-reading.org.ua/chapter.php/82002/30/Azimov_-_Asimovs_Mysteries.html

Then why doesn't helium instantly go 1000 MPH, when released into the air?
It defies gravity when released, yet neither instantly takes on any speed, let alone light speed.

Helium doesn't 'nullify' gravity, (eliminate it) it is just a lighter than air gas.

We're talking about eliminating the force of gravity altogether.

No, it's really not effected by gravity, it's a gas.

Point is, like gas, if something were to lose it gravity, it would lose it's mass as well, so it would most likely stay in place where it was and act like a gas and move with the air around it
Like light, it has no gravity or mass, so it disperses evenly.
Think of it this way, light a match, the light stays visible in your immediate area, because it has no mass to be effected by gravity, yet it stays in place?

But like all gases, (including our atmosphere which is mostly gas) if gravity hadn't any effect .. all of it would dissipate into outer space.

If you google a picture of the earth that also shows our atmosphere .. you can see how the clouds, as well as the atmosphere is curved (enveloping) around the sphere itself.

Gravity is holding it all in place.

No matter, I don't have to scrub the toilets now so-o-o, I'm abandoning my anti gravity machine and working on another idea for the next time the better half has some weird chore for me to do!

Invisibility

I've always had a similar question (on a much smaller scale), with what happens when you jump on a train or airplane. Would the ground move under you, causing you to fall? Or would the inertia of moving at the same speed as the train make for no difference?

Unfortunately, these days, if I got up and jumped on board a train or airplane, I'd probably end up naked in some dimly lit room while being interrogated. 

No, it's really not effected by gravity, it's a gas.


Hell, I don't know, but if you read about Tesla's work, he cracked the question and none of his stuff took off at the speed of light.

Helium has an atomic weight of 2. By comparison, nitrogen, which makes up three-quarters of our atmosphere, has an atomic weight of 7; oxygen, roughly 21% of our atmosphere, has an atomic weight of 8.  That's why helium rises. For the exact same reason, water will sink to the bottom of a tank of gasoline -- it is denser than the gasoline.

Helium is "light" relative to our air, but it has mass, and in a gravity environment it cannot be weightless. It too is bound to the planet by gravity. When released, it may rise through the various layers of the atmosphere, but it will never escape the planet's grasp as long as gravity works.

I think that I have outdone myself on dumb questions and stupid scenarios here! 

(My last question dealt with the sky stairway)

This months dumb question and stupid scenario is: The earth rotates at or around 1,000 mph, correct?

Now, let's say that I invented a machine that when activated, would nullify gravity.

The Dumb Questions .. of which there are three:   

1) If I were to take my 'machine' outside and flipped the anti gravity switch .. would the machine Rocket itself into outer space?

2) If it were to Rocket into space .. at what speed would it do so?

3) Now for a worst case scenario, (and the reason for the 1,000 mph rotation mentioned above) .. If the anti gravity machine just hovered, slightly above the terrain when activated .. wouldn't those skyscrapers and mountains .. rushing at you at 1,000 mph present a problem?   

I can assure you of one thing .. whichever scenario happens to be the correct one .. I wont be 'sitting' in the machine when the switch is flipped!

I Warned you about the stupid questions part!   

My answers:

1) Yep, your machine -- and you -- would "rocket" into space at precisely the surface rotational speed of the Earth. You would leave us, but not straight up. You would depart on a tangential trajectory. Picture string coming off a ball of string.

2) Your speed would equal the surface rotational speed of the Earth. If that's 1,000 mph -- and it's somewhere close to that, just a touch higher -- then there you go!

3) Your anti-gravity machine would be right beside you as you both leave the surface of the planet at 1,000 mph plus. In the absence of gravity, you and the machine would weigh exactly the same -- zero -- and you would wander space forever together.

It's kinda fun to do the "what if" stuff. I sure hope we never have to find out!