Empirical Earth · Gravity, Buoyancy & the Air

Scalars, vectors, and forces — and why density isn’t gravity

The claim

“Don’t density and buoyancy explain falling, with no need for ‘gravity’?”

What is measured

Density, mass and temperature are scalars, size only. Velocity, acceleration and force are vectors, size and direction. Falling has a direction, so it takes a force. Weight and buoyancy have an “up” and “down” only because gravity supplies them. Density tells you what floats. Gravity tells you which way is down.

What would show this is wrong

showing a steady directional effect, like objects always falling one way, produced by a purely scalar quantity with no underlying force or field; or buoyant separation continuing once gravity is removed (in free-fall and orbit, things do not sort by density).

Sources

  1. Scalars versus vectors. A scalar has magnitude only (mass, temperature, speed); a vector has both magnitude and direction (velocity, force). Weight is a force vector, W = m·g, directed towar link
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