January 4, 2014 Planetary Alignment Decreases Gravity

www.newshound.net ^ | Dec 16, 2013 | news hound

[kjam22]

It has been revealed by the British astronomer Patrick Moore that, on the morning of January 4th 2014, an extraordinary astronomical event will occur. At exactly 9:47 am, the planet Pluto will pass directly behind Jupiter, in relation to the Earth. This rare alignment will mean that the combined gravitational force of the two planets would exert a stronger tidal pull, temporarily counteracting the Earth’s own gravity and making people weigh less. Moore calls this the Jovian-Plutonian Gravitational Effect.

Astronomers have long been aware that there would be an alignment of the planets on that date, when Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto would be on the same side of the Sun, within an arc 95 degrees wide. But now the effect could be expected as the gravitational effect of the other planets on the Earth’s crust is maximum even at their closest approach.

If you think you will be able to float around your house then you will be mistaken. BUT if you jump in the air at 9:47AM local time on January 4th 2014, it should take you about 3 seconds to land back on your feet instead of the usual 0.2 seconds.

[kjam22]

The appointed “local time”. That’s the part I thought was funny...

[kjam22]

Probably.

[SandRat]

Looks like the only way Rossane Barr and Rosie O’Doughnuts are going to loose weight.

[Jeff Chandler]

“Does this planet make my butt look big?”

[Rodamala]

And the planet mars will appear larger than the full moon in the sky too... LOL.

[rlmorel]

Well, that explains it all.

[Rodamala]

Oddly there are neocon GOP^e voters that are very attracted to Christie... I guess it's all that mass.

[Secret Agent Man]

.3 seconds, not 3 seconds.

[FredZarguna]

Complete baloney.

The gravitational force exerted on you by the Earth is:

F_e = Gm_em_you/r²_e

The force exerted on you by Jupiter similarly is:

F_jupiter = Gm_jupiterm_you/dist²_jupiter

The relative force of the two is: F_e/F_j = m_e/m_j * dist²/r²_e

At nearest approach, Jupiter is 600 million Km, and the center of the earth is 6300 Km away. Jupiter's mass is about 320 earth masses. Plug it in and find that:

F_e/F_j = 2.9 x 10⁷

That is, the gravitational attraction exerted by the Earth on you is 29 million times greater than Jupiter's.

You could put a whole 'nother Jupiter right behind the real Jupiter at its closest approach to Earth, and it would keep you "floating in the air" around 1/10,000,000^th of a second longer than one Jupiter does. The effect of tiny, far more distant Pluto is unlikely to have an additional effect that can even be measured within the Uncertainty Principle.

This, incidentally, tells you why astrology is crap. The gravitational attraction of a fat obstetrician exerts more of an influence on you the instant you're born than the largest planet in the solar system.

[kjam22]

Pluto being so far away is like using a mutiplier. Ever use one of those little ratchet tools that is geared to be a multiplier? Same principle I’m pretty sure.... :)

[Right Wing Assault]

The earth pulls on you about 2.8 million times more than Jupiter does when it is closest to Earth. When it is farthest from earth, Earth’s pull is about 10 million times more than Jupiter’s.

[Blood of Tyrants]

BUT if you jump in the air at 9:47AM local time on January 4th 2014, it should take you about 3 seconds to land back on your feet instead of the usual 0.2 seconds.

I'm calling it BULLCRAP.

[FredZarguna]

.3 seconds, not 3 seconds.

Not even close; even if Jupiter's mass suddenly doubled, he's missing 7 zeroes after the decimal point. The gory details are at Post #49

[kjam22]

Rats... I was really hoping to slam dunk on that day. Was gonna get my wife to video it and everything!

[Secret Agent Man]

it did seem funny it would increase it by 50%.

[Red_Devil 232]

Gee. I wonder which weight loss product will use this day to charge more for their product!?

[kjam22]

I was thinking the lack of gravity might even help the obammycare website work faster... pretty sure it will!

[dr_lew]

This is baloney.

Utter baloney! I wonder if it's not meant as a joke.

Interesting fact: The tidal force of objects of the same density is proportional to their apparent area in the sky, measured by steradians, or square degrees if you like.

Note the sun and moon have the same apparent size, but the density of the sun is less than that of the moon, and it has a proportionately smaller tidal effect on the earth.

Likewise, Pluto's tidal effect may be estimated by its apparent angular area. It has an angular diameter of about 2000km/6 billion KM, so it's angular diameter is about 1/3billion, compared to the moon's 1/100. So the tidal effect of Pluto on the earth is about 1/30 million squared, or about 10^-15 times the lunar tidal effect.

[Right Wing Assault]

.3 seconds, not 3 seconds.

No, that is not it, either. If your jump lasts 0.2 seconds (which is pretty small for what most people can do) it is essentially 0.2 seconds no matter where the planets are. Their pull on us is miniscule compared to Earth's.

The article is seriously wrong.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

If you think you will be able to float around your house then you will be mistaken. BUT if you jump in the air at 9:47AM local time on January 4th 2014, it should take you about 3 seconds to land back on your feet instead of the usual 0.2 seconds.