What Is Gravity?

People have a lot of different ideas about what gravity is: a downward force that stops you from flying off into space, an attraction smaller objects experience towards larger objects, or a mutual attraction between all masses. It is the last of these ideas that best reflects a scientific conception of gravity.

[pachice]

i feel like i need to study before i go for a walk, just in case someone puts me on camera

[Maninawig]

Derek: so are you attracted to that tree?

Me: that IS quite a sexy tree, but between you and me, I heard that at the end of all her bark, she just leafs. You deserve one who's more rooted to reality.

[RoanCritter]

"Does the Moon have gravity?"
"Yes, because it has mass."
"Do you have gravity?"
"Yes. Because I'm awesome."

THE. SINGLE. BEST. RESPONCE. EVER!!!

[Gonzaga]

1:55 i was hoping he would answer something like "i think of it more as a friend" 

[kadhemchaabene]

"-Do you have gravity?
-Yes.. because I'm awesome!"
ha ha ha

[veritasium]

@GilGalvanti I agree everyone was on the right track - it's all about scaffolding from one conception to the next and seeing how they relate. Thanks for your comment!

[willayou]

Give a medal to the awesome guy, now!

[veritasium]

I know that Einstein talked about how a hot cup of tea has more mass than the same cup of tea cold. Does that answer your question? A charged battery has more mass than an uncharged one. I don't think you could find an apparatus sensitive enough to measure these differences however...

[veritasium]

only depends on mass (and distance from that mass). Spin shouldn't affect things (according to Newton's theory of gravity) but when you get to general relativity, I think it does.

[NaudVanDalen]

Pickup line:
*explain gravity*
"Is that true of all bodies with mass?"
"I don't know. I think so."
"So are you attracted to me?"

[fael]

it's a curvature in spacetime caused by anything that has mass. (then comes quantum physics and screws my recent understanding of gravity.)

[politykanazw]

no dude said "I attract only hot girls"? Really?

[sign]

“Are you attracted to that tree?”
“I’m not sure...lemme have a look...”

[loupax]

I was about to write my definition of gravity in the comments. Then I realised that everyone watching has propably watches the same videos as me, and read the same wikipedia articles as me.

So, yeah

[veritasium]

@NickTopakas oh, well all the ideas were getting to the point and the third idea is the scientific conception (more or less) that all mass attracts all other mass.

[tdawgtesseract]

I can't believe all the painstaking hours of lectures I've dealt with to understand what you manage to explain in minutes! I appreciate what you do! I hope the math will be useful to me someday

[veritasium]

@LMkaran It does orbit the sun... it orbits the Earth AND the sun. It doesn't orbit the sun only because its close proximity to Earth make its attraction to Earth greater than its attraction to the sun.

[Tletna]

I think the only problem with a lot of current scientific theories (including but not limited to Special Relativity) isn't that these theories are right or wrong but that they're new and incomplete and yet because they're compelling people just assume they're facts/laws of nature. There are so many things that Special Relativity poorly describes or doesn't describe at all.

I should learn more about it so I can better explain though.

Personally, I'm more excited by the work on the Higgs Boson.

[NetAndyCz]

I do not think we aactually know what gravity is, just how it works.

[LysanderStopMotion]

"Do you have gravity?" "Yes. Because I'm awesome" Quote of the day, right there.