Thursday, April 2, 2015

newtonian mechanics - Motion of a person on the surface of Earth in absence of Earth's attraction




If the earth suddenly stops attracting objects near its surface, what will be the motion of a person on the surface of the earth? (neglect the effect of rotation of earth.) There are two possibilities:



  1. the person flies along a tangent to Earth's surface.

  2. he remains standing.


My book says that the person should remain standing. But according to me,a particle requires centripetal force to perform circular motion. And since there is no centripetal force, the person should fly along the tangent to the surface. Why does my book say so?




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