All objects should be heavier at mid night than they are at noon?
Why the following reasoning is wrong.
'The sun attracts all bodies on earth. At mid night when the sun is directly below, it pulls on an objects is the same direction as the pull of the earth on that object ; at noon, when the sun is directly above , it pulls on an object in a direction opposite to the pull of the earth.
Hence, all objects should be heavier at mid night than they are at noon.'
ANS:
At mid-night when the sun is directly below, it attracts a body in the same direction as that of earth's attraction on the body. The case is reverse at mid-day. Hence, it appears that a body on the earth should be heavier at mid night than at mid-day. But this is not true. So far as the sun is concerned, the earth and the object experience 'weightlessness'. The weight of an object on the earth is entirely due to the gravitational attraction of the earth, and therefore, does not depend on the position of the sun.