I got this idiot test off a BS in the early 1990s
Someone was going on about how their sociology teacher was lecturing about expectations and how if you drop a pen on the moon, it wouldn't fall like it would on Earth.

He said it would simply float away because there's no gravity on the moon.

The poster and a friend argued the point. Don't recall how it turned out, but it seems that this is a common mis-perception. The poster and friend asked other people about the pen, and when people said it would float away because there's no gravity on the moon, they asked:

"So why don't the astronauts float away if there's no gravity"?

Common response: "because they wear very heavy boots."

But the law of gravity says matter is attracted to matter by the force of gravity everything has. The moon has less gravity because it is smaller than the Earth, but it has gravity. Otherwise, astronauts would float away regardless of how heavy their boots were.

So I decided to ask a friend whose intelligence I respected the question.

She was getting her PhD in nursing and had worked as a nurse for years, so she was versed in sciences. She has also since taught at Duke University, a prestigious school.

Yep, she said it would float away.

In her defense, she didn't try to argue the point when I pointed out she was wrong.

Many people will, though. Try asking people about it.

>shudder<
(ChiTown Guy Dating when 35+: sane, single, attractive - pick 2, Sun 21 Mar 2010, 19:15, 5 replies)

My wonderful big sister Norma kindly explained gravity to me when I was about 7
so I had no problems understanding it, except that I misheard it as 'grabity'. It grabbed things, y'see, stopped them floating off into space.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Sun 21 Mar 2010, 19:58, closed)

of course
if it was a standard ballpoint it wouldn't work in zero-g anyway.

Maybe that's why this hypothetical austronaut keeps trying to drop it.
(greatoldone Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl f'tagn, Mon 22 Mar 2010, 9:17, closed)

actually a standard biro
works perfectly in zero-G. Actually better than it does on earth, because you can write at any orientation in the absence of gravity.

And what is the matter with people and this standard assumption that someone with a PhD is an oracle for anything? Why would someone studying nursing be an expert in gravity? I mean, I can probably help you with most branches of engineering and medicine, but I doubt you'd want to trust my knowledge on 16th century French kings.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Mon 22 Mar 2010, 9:35, closed)

hmmm....
A PhD once said that to complete, you need to be obsessed with your subject to aspergian levels. I suspect that a goodly number of PhDs are not so much smart as autistic spectrum.

Having said that, I can clearly recall being taught in primary school that the moon (and the planets) have gravity, but that its strength is related to the mass of the planet. This was one of those things that was mentioned a few times throughout my years of schooling.

It seems that some people just don't pay attention.
( Sextant goes to him is emotionally erect, on this day, Mon 22 Mar 2010, 14:13, closed)

why do so many of these stories
feature misguided nurses. Shit, even a PhD in nursing don't make you no fool.
( Sextant goes to him is emotionally erect, on this day, Mon 22 Mar 2010, 14:08, closed)