Re: Is inertia stronger than gravity?

Let me answer a slightly different question, and then we can get back to your question. How would the speed of a falling object change if (somehow) its mass were to change? The answer is that the speed would not change. Let's examine why.

Newton's second law proclaims that the acceleration of an object is proportional to the force on an object and inversely proportional to the mass of that object. This is often written as "Force equals Mass times Acceleration" or "F=MA". This is a statement describing inertia. Mass is a measurement of inertia, so a certain force will have a smaller effect (acceleration) on an object with a larger inertia.

The force that a gravitational field exerts on an object is directly proportional the the size of the gravitational field and directly proportional to the gravitational charge of the object. The size of gravitational charge of an object is measured by its mass, so a more massive object will feel a larger gravitational force in a certain gravitational field.

Wait a minute! I first said that mass was a measurement of inertia. This is true. I then said that mass was a measurment of gravitational charge. This is also true! Since inertia and gravitational charge are the same, this means that the acceleration (change in velocity) of an object due to gravity is equal to the gravitational field that the object is in, but is unaffected by the mass!

Coming back to your question, the larger inertia of the object will cancel the effect of the larger gravitational charge, so if the other object continues as before, there will be no change. However, the larger gravitational charge will affect the other object. The change in the path of the other object will change the path of the object with the changing mass. How it would be affected would depend on a number of other factors, and is somewhat complicated. I hope helps at least a little!