Classes 6D and 6W with The Arts Catalyst

We take gravity for granted. We think our weight depends on our size. With artists from the Arts Catalyst, we found out there's more to gravity and weight than we thought

For starters, we learned that how much we weigh depends on how hard the floor pushes back.

(As hard as you push against it!)

And that depends on the floor's springiness!

Isaac Newton realised gravity pulls us towards the earth (a huge mass). We 'slowed down' gravity - using the friction on a slope - to measure how gravity accelerates objects. Galileo used this technique, but he didn't realise what caused gravity.

Galileo's experiment

We made marble run sculptures that depend on gravity to work.



We found our 'centre of mass' (centre of balance) in movement workshops and what happens when we shift it around.

What happens if the centre of gravity is somewhere else? The wall? Karen?

If there was no gravity, we could fly. You can fly in a diving aircraft - space agencies use these to train astronauts - or in space in 'weightlessness'.

Dancers in weightlessness in a diving aircraft

It may feel good, but there are problems being in zero gravity for long periods of time. Our bodies need gravity to stay healthy, and there are other snags ...

101 PROBLEMS IN ZERO GRAVITY

using the toilet

having a bath

sleeping

cutting hair

cooking

eating

We tried to think of some solutions.

food in a tube

astronaut strapped to exercise treadmill

peaceful sleep in zero gravity

We realised things like chairs would be pointless in zero gravity, so we rethought these to make new sculptural-objects for life in space.

"

Our last workshop was about rotation and we used rotating cameras.

The Earth rotates on its axis and the planets rotate around the sun. The gravitational pull of the sun keeps the planets moving around it. Without this, they would fly out of the solar system.

Tim spins the Earth

The hi-tec rotating camera device

In the film '2001: A Space Odyssey', the space station rotates to replace gravity with centrifugal force (the force outwards caused by rotation). This is because life without gravity is so difficult.

The film was made in the 1960s and they had to simulate zero gravity by rotating cameras and studios at the same time. We played with rotating video cameras and rotating sculptures to see the relative motion and made our own films.

Around ... and around ... we go!

Rotating sculptures

Arts Catalyst zero gravity art-science education team: Tim Millar, Karen Lowe, Graham Hudson, Nicola Triscott.

April 2001