At what distance above the planet will an object become weightless and float in outer space because it is beyond the gravity pull of the Earth?
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Orangy Energy
ANSWERS: 2
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If the Earth were the only object close by, there is no such distance. At any distance, there's a non-zero gravitational force pulling the object and the Earth together. There is however a velocity of an object drifting away from Earth at which the force of gravity will not slow it down sufficiently such that it's essentially free of the Earth's gravity for eternity. That velocity is called the escape velocity, and is about 25,000 mph at the surface. This number goes down as you get farther from Earth. It's difficult to explain here in detail, but this wiki page has a nice explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_velocity
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In the truest sense you are never fully free of the pull of gravity from the earth, no matter how far away from the earth you go. Even yo the end of the Milky Way Galaxy The appearance of weightlessness is an illusion. You are simply in a free fall around the earth. Centrifugal force is keeping you up and gravity is holding you down in perfect balance. If you then travel faster you will escape the immediate area of the earth and if you slow down you will drop back in to the planet. You have to be up about a hundred miles to be free of all drag caused by our atmosphere but you will orbit the planet in about 90 minutes. If you are about 25000 miles out you are in a 24 hour orbit and you will appear stationary over one spot if you are above the equator and traveling from West to East.
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