Evangeline got it!
Aug. 7th, 2010 03:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conulyLast week, Evangeline was walking along when she dropped something and asked why things fall down.
Me: Gravity.
Evangeline: What's gravity?
Me: Well, you're not gonna like this answer, but gravity basically means "the reason things fall down."
Evangeline: Things fall down because they fall down? That's not right! You can't say because it's because!
Me: *sighs* Well, okay, there's more to it than that, but it's a bit hard to explain. I can try, but it's okay if you don't really understand it, because it's hard to explain it well.
Evangeline: Okay.
Me: Basically, gravity means that big things attract little things and make them fall down. What's the biggest thing near us, do you know?
Evangeline: Uh... the car?
Me: Nope, because the car isn't DOWN. The biggest thing *stops foot* is right below us.
Evangeline: The sidewalk?
Me: The whole planet. The whole earth. Where we live. And because it's the biggest thing where we are, it's DOWN. Everything else on earth is little, so everything else is attracted to - pulled towards - the earth. That's gravity. Big things, like the earth, pull little things towards them. And make them fall.
Evangeline: Okay...
Me: Of course, if there were something bigger nearby, THAT would be down. If we were on the moon, even though the moon is smaller than the earth, the earth would be so far away that the moon would be down. The moon would pull us, because we're little, down towards it. Or if we were on the sun, the sun is HUGE, down would be the sun. Things would fall onto the sun.
Evangeline: Okay.
Me: But we're on earth, and things here fall down to the earth because the earth is the biggest thing around, and gravity is big things attracting little things. It's a little more complicated than that, but that's roughly it.
This isn't exactly the best explanation I've ever come up with, but she's four and I didn't expect it to sink in anyway. Plus, I had no time to prepare. So I largely forgot about it. Until yesterday.
Evangeline: Ow! I fell down!
Me: *kiss*
Evangeline: I don't like falling down.
Me: Blame gravity.
Evangeline: Grav- oh, right. Big things pulling little things DOWN.
Hey, it stuck!
Me: Gravity.
Evangeline: What's gravity?
Me: Well, you're not gonna like this answer, but gravity basically means "the reason things fall down."
Evangeline: Things fall down because they fall down? That's not right! You can't say because it's because!
Me: *sighs* Well, okay, there's more to it than that, but it's a bit hard to explain. I can try, but it's okay if you don't really understand it, because it's hard to explain it well.
Evangeline: Okay.
Me: Basically, gravity means that big things attract little things and make them fall down. What's the biggest thing near us, do you know?
Evangeline: Uh... the car?
Me: Nope, because the car isn't DOWN. The biggest thing *stops foot* is right below us.
Evangeline: The sidewalk?
Me: The whole planet. The whole earth. Where we live. And because it's the biggest thing where we are, it's DOWN. Everything else on earth is little, so everything else is attracted to - pulled towards - the earth. That's gravity. Big things, like the earth, pull little things towards them. And make them fall.
Evangeline: Okay...
Me: Of course, if there were something bigger nearby, THAT would be down. If we were on the moon, even though the moon is smaller than the earth, the earth would be so far away that the moon would be down. The moon would pull us, because we're little, down towards it. Or if we were on the sun, the sun is HUGE, down would be the sun. Things would fall onto the sun.
Evangeline: Okay.
Me: But we're on earth, and things here fall down to the earth because the earth is the biggest thing around, and gravity is big things attracting little things. It's a little more complicated than that, but that's roughly it.
This isn't exactly the best explanation I've ever come up with, but she's four and I didn't expect it to sink in anyway. Plus, I had no time to prepare. So I largely forgot about it. Until yesterday.
Evangeline: Ow! I fell down!
Me: *kiss*
Evangeline: I don't like falling down.
Me: Blame gravity.
Evangeline: Grav- oh, right. Big things pulling little things DOWN.
Hey, it stuck!
