# A Demonstration of Gravity! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 14, 2004, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-demonstration-of-gravity/224429 "2004-01-14T19:19:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-demonstration-of-gravity/224429/21 "2004-01-16T01:12:36Z")
[Fifth Dimension] Would you like to ride in my [beautiful balloon](http://www.launch.net/) Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon We could float among the stars together, you and I For we can fly we can fly Up, up and away My beautiful, my beautiful balloon [/Fifth Dimension] ---
**Author:** ![peasea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc79bd/32.png) [@peasea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peasea)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-demonstration-of-gravity/224429/22 "2004-01-16T04:09:44Z")
To answer a few questions some of you have touched on: Yes, this thread has been falling straight down, and at quite a pace, I might add, this whole time. However, as I failed to note in the OP, the entire _forum_ has been falling at a rate close to, but less than, that of the thread itself. I thought this was common knowledge, so I didn’t bother mentioning it. Normally, that discrepancy in velocity would be enough to send the thread right off the front page (which actually happened at one point, but was remedied by **cityboy** , I think). What causes a thread to suddenly jump to the top of the forum is, as everyone has surely noticed, submitting a new post, and that’s where things get complicated. I won’t go into detail, as I just have secondhand knowledge of this, really, but submitting a new post momentarily disrupts the subatomic makeup of the thread. That is, the atoms, and the particles that comprise the atoms, actually break apart. Then, through the phenomenon of quantum tunneling, the entire thread moves, against the pull of gravity, to just above all the other threads in the forum. This whole process is much like that of Wonkavision, only faster, and without all the little colored dots. I know what your thinking. “Atoms break apart? Won’t there be an explosion, or a meltdown, or something like that?” Not to worry, that’s what the admins are here for. They are experts in their field, and have many safeguards in place to make sure nothing like that ever happens. Anyway, although I know this process is a common occurence in some other threads, I didn’t really expect it to happen in this one, and have thus learned a valuable lesson. In any future threads I start, I will be sure to declare that whatever the goal of my thread is will never happen. For instance, the OP may read, “I saw a movie a long time ago that I really liked, but can’t remember the title or the cast. I am quite confident that none of you will ever identify it for me.” or “My god, this link hilarious! Whatever you do, don’t look at or comment on it!” Well, I think that covers it for now. Oh, and **cityboy** , it’s ok – I’ve never heard of you either. I think it’s our screen names. One word, moderate length, no caps. It’s just not as eye-catching as **Diogenes the Cynic** or **Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor**. That, and I hadn’t been posting much since months before you joined the boards. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-demonstration-of-gravity/224429/23 "2004-01-16T04:45:30Z")
She’s on to us. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-demonstration-of-gravity/224429/24 "2004-01-16T04:47:55Z")
The only part of this thread that is accelerating is its general suckiness. ---
**Author:** ![peasea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc79bd/32.png) [@peasea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peasea)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-demonstration-of-gravity/224429/25 "2004-01-16T14:52:40Z")
Thanks for your contribution, **Dr\_Pap**. That was very sweet. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-demonstration-of-gravity/224429/26 "2004-01-17T03:56:50Z")
Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s… A flying pig! ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-demonstration-of-gravity/224429/27 "2004-01-17T17:06:23Z")
If I turn my monitor\* upside down, the thread accelerates towards the _top_ at 32’ps/ps! Weird. \*Yes, I have a thing for large lizards. Deal with it! ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-demonstration-of-gravity/224429/28 "2004-01-17T20:35:01Z")
Just when I think this thread has sunk to it’s lowest position it suddenly rises to the very top again. Why is that? Is gravity broken? Or is this one of those crooked house illusions? ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-demonstration-of-gravity/224429/29 "2004-01-17T22:38:02Z")
People we are missing a very important _exception_ to this rule. Why aren’t those **“Sticky” Posts** falling to the bottom? Could it be that it is due to a heretofore unstudied phenomenon? I have read Isaac Newton’s _Principia_ many times and it fails to have even the briefest reference to “Sticky Post” behavior. Could it be that Newton did _not_ write about this because he knew about this aberrant phenomenon, could not explain it and therefore swept it under the rug hoping no one else would notice its egregious ommission? ---
**Author:** ![green\_dragon\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/13edae/32.png) [@green\_dragon\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_dragon_1)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-demonstration-of-gravity/224429/30 "2004-01-18T01:12:58Z")
Swept under the rug? Nah, Newty boy wasn’t the type, he was the first to admit when he didn’t understand something - such as the physical mechanism behind his revolutionary theory of Gravity for example. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-demonstration-of-gravity/224429/31 "2004-01-18T08:55:48Z")
Hey, it’s cold down here, let’s push this thing a little closer to the sun. 🆒 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-demonstration-of-gravity/224429.md?page=1)