How do accelerometers work in space?
I recently got into a bit of a debate about the functionality of accelerometers on a globe Earth. I was arguing that they would function exactly the same as on a flat plane. Accelerometers work by measuring forces exerted on a mass, aligned to a specific axis of the device like your cell phone. I made a short very experimental video trying to explain my understanding of this so called proof of flat Earth. In conclusion of that video I claimed that accelerometers are neither proof or disproof of a globe or flat Earth.
Looking back at the original videos which inspired my video, I realized the greatest point of the argument that they could not be used in space aboard the ISS. By their fundamental design, accelerometers require weight in order to function. Free fall = zero gravity = no force which can be exerted on any accelerometer in any direction. I want someone really smart at physics to challenge me on this. I have tried to look for ways around this but it is simple logical reasoning to assume that something which only measures g-force would not function at all in an environment completely lacking all such forces. So at least this is more solid evidence that everything about the ISS is fake. The SPHERES experiments which navigate using cell phones equipped with standard accelerometers, could not possibly be real, even within the context of the ISS being a real space station, in real space.
This excellent evidence which has mostly been exposed by YouTuber "Rannick" has spread throughout the flat Earth community but the basis of the argument needs to be condensed and brought forward to the mainstream in an easy to understand way. This logic and understanding of accelerometer functionality calls into question all zero G navigation equipment. I will be making future videos and posts about this subject. NASA needs to be exposed for the frauds they are. Please comment if you can easily explain to me how such a device would function aboard the ISS!
Hello sir, I work with accelerometers. Any modern accelerometer would work in space. In fact there is still a G component while you are in orbit! However the strength of the G component is somewhat less the further you are from Earth. This principle is explained nicely by this image:
So while your accelerometer should read 9.8 m/s while on the surface of the earth, it will read something a little less while you are in orbit. However, you will not fall to the Earth while in orbit as long as you keep traveling at "vOrbit" m/s relative to the ground. I hope I helped. Cheers!
Parcorn?
Thanks for the reply! I will look into this because it still makes no sense to me and I am wary of accepting math formulas as proof of unobservable phenomenon. The accelerometer gives a reading because the suspended mass moves independent of the static mass under force. If the suspended mass can't move because it has no weight then it can't produce a reading. If the moving part of the sensor is constantly being pulled towards the center of the Earth just at a slightly less rate, then why don't astronauts (and everything) on the ISS get pulled towards the floor of the ISS?
Your final sentence and question is one of the most common questions asked in physics classrooms! The answer is that you do have weight and gravity is pulling the ISS towards the Earth. The ISS is in free-fall towards the Earth, and that is why it feels as if you are weightless inside the ISS. When you are in free-fall such as falling off a cliff, it feels as if you are weightless (this is of course an observable phenomenon). The reason the ISS never falls into the Earth is because it is going so fast perpendicular to the planet (the speed necessary is dictated by vOrbit in the above equations).
Here is a short video explaining the subject:
Thanks, so if I weighed myself on the ISS by standing on a floating scale, the scale would read slightly less than it would on Earth, correct? Assuming the scale and my body are in a straight line with the center of the Earth.