“Stop saying zero gravity” 

While shopping around for a new bed, I discovered that the phrase “Zero gravity” has gone thoroughly mainstream. Apparently, there are “zero g sleeping positions” available now if you are willing to put down a few thousand dollars. 

What numbers among physics students have heard of  “Zero gravity”? Do students think that astronauts on the ISS are floating because of the absence of gravity there? I have anecdotal evidence gathered over the years from student answers to these two questions. I wanted to gather data on this and distributed a survey over social media. Those who responded to the survey include students from a top public high school, a large state flagship university and a private liberal arts college all in the northeast U. S. I am hoping that the results are of interest to all of us, physics educators. 

Here is the abstract of my presentation at the upcoming AAPT Summer 2021 virtual meeting.

The term “zero gravity” first appeared in NASA’s technical bulletins in 1968. Since then “zero g” has become extremely common in popular usage. We also often hear talk of astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) being weightless or experiencing zero gravity. I present here preliminary results of a survey conducted on social media of college students in the U.S who have taken a physics course in high school or college. Participants were asked about their familiarity with “zero g” or “zero gravity” and also if they thought that astronauts float because of zero gravity. The results show that a very high percentage of students surveyed are aware of the term. Significant numbers among them think that astronauts float due to the absence of gravity, a belief that does not appear to be based on a conceptual understanding of free fall/circular motion and scientific reasoning.