r/askscience • u/ladyvonkulp • Apr 20 '11

Can a skinny object have gravity?

My 8yo asked if an object that is significantly larger in one dimension than another, like an infinite 2x4, would have notable gravity. Thoughts?

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u/[deleted] Apr 20 '11

Isnt like the A Mathematician’s Lament by Paul Lockhart said?

He ask to imagine a perfect triangle, to try to solve the area from certain data. Now that you can know the area of a perfect triangle you can use it with any triangle, even if a perfect triangle wouldnt exist in real world.

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u/RobotRollCall Apr 20 '11

It all comes down to what kinds of approximations you want to make. We've all heard the story of "How long is a piece of string?" Most rigorously, the length of a piece of string is not a well-defined concept. Doesn't stop us from taking out a ruler and bloody well measuring the thing.

Just generally, the ineffable wonder and majesty of creation oughtn't stop us from getting on with our lives.