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ELI5 Yahaaa

Yes, lots

Is There Gravity in Space?

Gravity reaches everywhere. It never switches off — it only gets gentler.

At your feet100%Space station, 400 km upstill about 90%At the Moonweak, but enoughto hold it
It fades with distance. It never reaches zero.

  1. Step 1 of 5

    Every object with mass pulls.

    Huge mass, strongpull Small mass, tinypull — but real

    You pull on the Earth right now. The Earth pulls harder because it has far more mass — but the pulling itself is universal.

  2. Step 2 of 5

    The pull weakens fast with distance.

    At 1x distancefull strengthAt 2x distancea quarterAt 3x distancea ninth

    Double your distance from the centre and gravity drops to a quarter. Triple it and you get a ninth. It fades quickly — but it never hits zero.

  3. Step 3 of 5

    The space station is barely any further out.

    Feels like Far from EarthReally 6% further from thecentre than you are

    It orbits 400 km up, but Earth's centre is 6,371 km away. Adding 400 km changes almost nothing — gravity there is still nearly full strength.

  4. Step 4 of 5

    Gravity is what holds the whole system together.

    Holds moons to planetsHolds planets to theSunHolds the Sun in thegalaxyHolds galaxies to eachother

    The Sun's gravity reaches billions of kilometres to hold Neptune. Galaxies hold together across a hundred thousand light years. Space is full of it.

  5. Step 5 of 5

    Truly zero gravity would need infinite emptiness.

    Zero gravity Would need to beinfinitely far fromeverythingFree fall Common, and whatastronauts actuallyfeel

    To feel nothing at all you would need to be infinitely far from every object in the universe. There is no such place.

The short version

Space is full of gravity. Astronauts float because they are falling, not because gravity is missing.

Try it yourself

Step off a low wall. For that half second you weigh nothing — and gravity is at full strength the whole time.

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