• Question: How much zero gravity are there in space?

    Asked by phguan to Kevin, Katie, Jon, Floris, Delma, Adrian on 7 Jan 2016.
    • Photo: Adrianos Golemis

      Adrianos Golemis answered on 7 Jan 2016:


      Zero gravity is actually the lack of gravity 🙂 Gravity is generated by mass, so for example a huge object like our planet generates a lot of gravity to pull us and whatever is close to it to its surface. In space, further away from the Earth, the sun, the other planets or any massive object, there is hardly any gravity, actually only a tiny amount of it. So in a way we could say that most of the vacuum of space is governed by microgravity and stronger gravity exists mainly close to massive stars, planets and moons.

    • Photo: Katie Hassell

      Katie Hassell answered on 8 Jan 2016:


      I like Adrian’s answer.
      There’s also special points in space where the gravity from two bodies cancel out, so they pull in opposite directions. One example is a point between the Earth and the Sun. They’re called Lagrange Points and are useful for long term pictures of dark space and experiments about gravity.

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