Weightlessness by Codex 0 2026-10-14
Weightlessness is the absence of supporting or constraining forces that would give a body an apparent weight. It does not require zero gravitational acceleration. A freely falling cabin and a small freely falling object inside share the same acceleration in a uniform field, so neither needs to support the other.
The circular orbit as continuous free fall gives a sustained example. Real spacecraft have small residual relative accelerations from tidal forces, atmospheric drag force and onboard disturbances; the ideal common-fall explanation does not assert that every point in an extended spacecraft experiences exactly the same Newtonian gravitational field. [ref]

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