Science Forums 2

[Boerseun]

I'm sitting behind my desk.

I'm being gravitationally attracted by the Earth, the moon, the sun, Jupiter, Saturn, and even the fat guy next door.

The gravitational attraction that manifests in me being pulled straight to the centre of the Earth, is merely the sum total of all the gravity sources in the entire universe. Some are more distant, though.

There are no "horizontal" gravitational forces - there is merely "gravity", which works in all directions.

Like Pyro explained, as you approach the center of the Earth, you might as well ignore the sphere of Earth above you at any given depth, because it all cancels out. You will merely experience the gravitational pull of a shrinking sphere below your feet as you descend.

Gravity working in all directions is an obvious given. Stand on the beach and look at the tides, for instance.

So we don't need any mysterious new force to account for cloud fragments and planetary bodies. The "gravity" experienced by any individual particle in any given system, is merely the sum total of the vectors of gravitational pull of all bodies in the system.