Water is very heavy – and it can move. Until now, changes to water on land have actually offset much of the rising sea level from ice melt. How? Gravity
Galaxy rotation has long perplexed scientists.
Nasa/James Webb Telescope
People have been flying airplanes for well over a century. Engineers know how to balance all the forces at play, but still aren’t exactly sure how some of the physics of flight actually works.
Galileo, holding two balls, about to perform his legendary experiment.
Hulton Archive/Stringer via Getty Images
A centuries-old experiment shows the differences between classical and modern physics. Physicists use thought experiments like this to think about how objects move both on Earth and in the stars.
When you’re an astronaut landing on the Moon, you can’t rely on the same gravitational cues we have on Earth. But regimented training with sensory devices could one day prevent spatial disorientation.
Artist concept of Gravity Probe B orbiting the Earth to measure space-time, a four-dimensional description of the universe including height, width, length, and time.
(NASA)
The gravitational field can affect space and time: the stronger gravity is, the slower time moves. This prediction of General Relativity can be used to reveal hidden forces acting on dark matter.
Einstein’s theory of general relativity suggests that our universe originated in a Big Bang. But black holes, and their gravitational forces, challenge the limits of Einstein’s work.
With NASA planning more missions to space in the future, scientists are studying how to mitigate health hazards that come with space flight.
AP Photo/John Raoux
To understand this question, we need to travel back in time.
The Seli’š Ksanka Qlispe’ Dam provides enough electricity for about 147,000 homes in the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana.
Martina Nolte via Wikimedia Commons
A comparison of star-forming galaxies suggests, surprisingly, that dark matter and visible matter do interact – taking us closer to understanding what keeps the galaxies together.