THOUGHT OF THE DAY

"If levitation invokes the cessation of gravity then we can not float straight up and then return to the same spot. We MUST land on a spot different to that in which we levitated from."

Think about it. Levitation is different from merely throwing an object into the air. The thrown object is STILL under the influence of gravity.

A levitated object DOES NOT act in the same way as a thrown object."

VS.

Hey Ben! Great topic for discussion.

Psychological research (ie.infant precocity) suggests that we have an innate understanding of gravity. However, if an object breaks the laws of gravity, I'm not sure there is a mechanism that would tell us where an object "MUST" land.

A levitating object may also be fighting gravity-in other-words still under it's influence.

Having just witnessed Gaetan Bloom fool a room full of magicians with his "balancing card", I've realized something: The reason his routine is so powerful is that balancing a card is MORE possible than levitating a card. The concept of gravity still contributes to the impossibleness of the effect, but there is no up-and-down action--the card simply stands there. Does this suggest that levitation is too impossible (or "too-perfect")? Something else to think about...

~Josh L.

Ben,

I just realized that you should recognize my user name "mereacle" as it is in a book you published.

Any idea?

Josh

This falls into my area of expertise.

Actually, research supports the opposite. Infants do NOT seem to have an "innate" fear of falling. They will crawl right off a table (onto a glass surface).

Dr. Mage -
I've read similar reports where there were glass floors or floors designed to look as if there was a sharp drop off. The infants had no trouble crawling over these areas.

HOWEVER...by the time most people are old enough to witness and understand magic, this sense of gravity and "falling" has had time to sink in. Think about it this way: if we didn't have a sense of gravity, a levitation would be meaningless. "Look, it's floating!" "Huh?"

Now, onto Ben's original thought...wouldn't the "landing spot" be affected by other forces? If you're in a vacuum (not the kind you use to clean your carpets! Sheesh!), completely at rest, and there is no gravity, you won't move unless you WANT to move -- by you pushing off the ground or some object.

So let's assume that you are standing on a small platform, completely shut off from all outside influences. Yes, you're in a vacuum...assume you can magically breathe. The only force acting on you is gravity. Now, imagine that gravity stopped affecting you. Most people might think that you would start to float upwards, but I'm not too sure about that. I think you might just stay where you are -- until you made some movement. The moment you exert a force against another object, you will start to move. So, let's say you push directly upwards...a perfect 90 degree angle. So, you start moving directly upwards. If gravity suddenly turned on again, you'd be pulled straight down again, wouldn't you? This, of course, assumes there are NO other forces acting upon you - the kind of thing that only happens in physics thought experiments.

So, I'm not sure I entirely agree with Ben's statement -- what do you guys think?

-Jim

Dr Mage,

The "visual cliff" research you are referring to suggests that the ability to locomote plays a large role in the development of the fear of heights. It is important to note that as soon as the infants begin exploring their environment more, they become "afraid" of cliffs. Some innate mechanism might still be kicking in.

The research I was referring to is that on impossible versus possible events. Attentional experiments have suggested that young children understand basic physical laws. What they found is that an event which is impossible is more provocative-- even to a very young child.

Do you know what the opposite of "gravity" is?

"Comedy."

-- The Firesign Theatre


Thanks for getting the ball rolling, Ben! That seems to be one of your strengths.

In regrads a self-levitation, I think it is more powerful if the performer appears to move side ways, just a little. It implies a "freedom" from gravity. It is something I have incorporated into my performance of the self-levitation.

BH

All respects to Firesign Theatre- but the opposite of gravity is Levity

Patrick

If we were standing on earth and gravity suddenly stopped, we would not float off. We would still be standing in the exact same spot as before. Now, with gravity off, we jumped, we would keep rising up, straight up. Until some other force was exerted on us. (Newtons laws of motion would still apply!) When another object hit us or we hit it, we would move in a new direction based on the direction and force that was applied to us. This would continue until we stopped ourselves. Then we would be at rest. and therefor motionless. So, to answer Bens question on where we should land, if gravity ceased to exist and we jumped up, and then gravity turned on again, we would fall back to the same spot. Objects rise and fall in a curve because of gravity. Like throwing a ball. The ball is thrown and moves in a straight line and curves down (gravity) and finally hits the ground. The ball is trying to escape gravity, but gravity is always pulling it down. I should also point out that gravity is a very weak force. That is why you can jump up and down without much trouble. But is a Constant force. That is why we need rockets to escape its pull. We need a constant force in the opposite direction of gravity's pull to escape it. Understand?

Blurr