Re: Galactic Gravitation...

In article <1190568959.903529.117470@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
<sigidunum@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sep 23, 6:22 pm, Sea Wasp <seawaspObvi...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Thanks for the answers -- which boil down to "yes that's the way it
works, but the field is so weak that a paramecium could break orbit
using only one of its cilia, so pretty much no one notices".

If I'm calculating right, it would take about a century for the
acceleration to produce movement visible to the naked eye.

Mind, over millions of years it can produce some real delta vee. The
Milky Way's gravitation is strong enough to have tidally disrupted and
then cannibalized several smaller nearby galaxies.

Mind you, although the acceleration is weak, that doesn't mean
it's easy to escape from the galaxy. I make the local galactic escape
velocity to be almost 300 km/s.
--
http://www.livejournal.com/users/james_nicoll
http://www.cafepress.com/jdnicoll (For all your "The problem with
defending the English language [...]" T-shirt, cup and tote-bag needs)
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Galactic Gravitation...
    ... using only one of its cilia, so pretty much no one notices". ... Depends what you mean by "break orbit". ... I don't think so (unless you postulate a paramecium capable ... how high could a human jump from ...
    (rec.arts.sf.science)
  • Re: Galactic Gravitation...
    ... but the field is so weak that a paramecium could break orbit ... using only one of its cilia, so pretty much no one notices". ... Milky Way's gravitation is strong enough to have tidally disrupted and ...
    (rec.arts.sf.science)
  • Re: Galactic Gravitation...
    ... works, but the field is so weak that a paramecium could break orbit using only one of its cilia, so pretty much no one notices". ... Sea Wasp ...
    (rec.arts.sf.science)