Evangeline got it!

[conuly]

Last 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!

Comments

[rho]

I think that "You can't say because it's because!" is a much more useful thing to know than the details of gravity, in truth.

[conuly]

Oh, yes! She'll never be taken in by "This holy book is true because it was inspired by God, and we know God is real because duh, it says so right here in black and white!"

There are good reasons to believe in various religions, but that's never been one of them.

[pne.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm more impressed by her keen logical reasoning at the beginning of this discussion.

I was, too. "Things fall down because they fall down? That's not right!" is pretty quick at pointing out that that's not an explanation.

[siderea]

Yeah. I expect great things of this child.

[conuly]

She's starting to read, you know. That's been our summer project, and she's starting to figure it out!

[pne.livejournal.com]

Evangeline: I don't like falling down.
Me: Blame gravity.

Or she could blame my great-grandfather Isaac, who invented gravity.

[steorra (from livejournal.com)]

I think you must have left out some 'great's... :-)

[pne.livejournal.com]

If you ever find out his exact relationship to me, do let me know, and I'll be more precise in the future :)

[conuly]

Wait, really? I thought you were just joking!

[steorra (from livejournal.com)]

I think he is still just joking.

[pne.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

I mean, I am sure I'm related to him, but only in the sense that I'm sure I'm related to you. I just don't know how long ago our most recent common ancestor lived - it could a thousand years ago, or four thousand. So, not necessarily particularly closely.

On the other hand, I think it would be nifty if I found out that our last common ancestor was, say, his grandfather or something.

[steorra (from livejournal.com)]

How far back do you know your paternal ancestry?

[pne.livejournal.com]

Off the top of my head, I know names up to my great-great-grandfather.

But my sister did quite a bit of genealogy so she could go further back, with dates etc. even - I don't know how far, though.

[steorra (from livejournal.com)]

Hmm... I have record of my ancestry back to the late 1700s, and I think that was my four-greats grandfather. (Don't have the information at hand, though.) Of course, how far back a generation will take you can vary considerably. But I guess I would add at least two or three more 'great's to get back to roughly contemporary with Isaac Newton.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Wait? I didn't think he had any direct descendants? Although that's an awesome person to have in your family tree.

[pne.livejournal.com]

I didn't think he had any direct descendants?

Indeed he didn't.

[sayga.livejournal.com]

Awesome. I like your explanation and I love that she remembered it.