26th
[The teacher’s assistant in my philosophy class] was trying to show how things don’t always happen the way we think they will and explained that, while a pen always falls when you drop it on Earth, it would just float away if you let go of it on the Moon.
My jaw dropped a little. I blurted “What?!” Looking around the room, I saw that only my friend Mark and one other student looked confused by the TA’s statement. The other 17 people just looked at me like, “What’s your problem?”
“But a pen would fall if you dropped it on the Moon, just more slowly,” I protested.
“No it wouldn’t,” the TA explained calmly, “because you’re too far away from the Earth’s gravity.” Think. Think. Aha! “You saw the APOLLO astronauts walking around on the Moon, didn’t you?”
I countered, “Why didn’t they float away?”
“Because they were wearing heavy boots.”
