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In the spaces station moving around the world, we can see that people are floating inside the station. There are two forces acting on the station.

  1. Gravitational force
  2. Centrifugal force

Now these forces can't cancel themselves. If that would happen then the station won't move in the orbit. But we see people floating. How can they float? There should be a net force acting on them which should cause them to move in a direction? But it doesn't happen. So where am I wrong?

Qmechanic
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Theoretical
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  • "There should be a net force acting on them, which should cause them to move in a direction....". Yes. It should cause them to move in the same direction as the space station, which is subject to the same forces. And they do. – WillO May 05 '18 at 13:49
  • The station is also floating, isn't it? There is no difference in having a station or an astronaut orbiting the planet. You see people moving inside the station because they can grab stuff and pull themselves. Otherwise they would be orbiting the planet just like any satellite. – AA10 May 05 '18 at 13:51
  • The centrifugal force is a fictitious force (i.e., it's a fiction). This has to be a duplicate question. – David Hammen May 05 '18 at 14:04
  • Related: https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/29929/gravity-on-the-international-space-station, https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/47291/how-could-the-relative-zero-gravity-of-the-international-space-station-be-cancel, https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/288695/zero-gravity-how-it-is-possible, and many others. – David Hammen May 05 '18 at 14:07

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