Respect for gravity

働きに敬意を表して

No matter what genre you are researching, gravity is almost always a strong relation. Gravity is the force that is the gravitational force of the Earth minus the centrifugal force caused by its rotation, and while it is a strong relation, it is also a mysterious force. When you look at it from the quantum world, the number of mysteries seems to be more prominent, but in everyday life, gravity is so commonplace that it is often not even considered.

create up and down

The sense of up and down is also the sense of the direction of gravity and its opposite, and although humans seem to sense balance through the movement of otoliths in the semicircular canals, movement is essentially due to gravity. Plants also seem to be able to grasp the direction of gravity, as they spread their roots in the direction of gravity and grow their trunks in the anti-gravity direction. Gravity is thought to be the basis for the concept of direction. It seems that living things are able to recognize orientation and direction thanks to gravity.

植物が重力方向を感知する仕組みを解明

create a cycle

Rain falls toward the ground in the direction of gravity, so water is replenished over a wide area. Water pours into the mountains and becomes springs, groundwater, and rivers, and the water that has dispersed over a wide area flows into lower elevations and gathers at a confluence called the sea. Then, with crustal movement, water sinks even deeper into the ground and is used to create the granite that makes up the earth’s crust. Gravity seems to create movement and flow.

create pressure

Gravity attracts the material of the crust and mantle, piling up their weight and creating high pressure inside. This high pressure creates mineral veins, melts and regenerates the crust, creates convection of rocks, and generates heat. When it gets higher in the atmosphere, it attracts the atmosphere that is about to fly into space and keeps it on the Earth, piling up the weight of the atmosphere and creating atmospheric pressure, and in the oceans, piling up the weight of seawater and creating water pressure, creating air currents, ocean currents, and the associated diverse ecosystems. In particular, organisms living near the surface of the earth are thought to benefit from the strong atmospheric pressure near the surface, since it is difficult for them to breathe in areas with low air pressure.

create a load

This is particularly noticeable when compared to a weightless environment, but it seems that the stress and stimulation of gravity promotes bone formation. A certain amount of stress seems to be necessary for a strong structure, but it seems that there are not only bones, but also antigravity muscles that resist gravity. It can be seen as a form in which living things have adapted to gravity in order to live on Earth, but the stress of gravity is important for survival.

〔2019年5月8日リリース〕筋と骨の量的な制御と重力との相関を解明―マウスの宇宙実験(きぼう)と地上実験で証明― | 2019年度 プレスリリース一覧 | プレスリリース | 広報・社会連携 | 大学案内 | 国立大学法人 東京農工大学

Gravity is amazing

Gravity is believed to be the reason why the Earth can exist as a sphere in space, and the formation of the land and its stable footing are also thought to lead to the stability of the ecosystem. In a sense, gravity may also be what allows us to travel through space with the Sun and the Moon. Gravity is amazing. The gravitational force of the Earth is amazing.

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