Page:Clement Fezandié - Through the Earth.djvu/131

Rh because gravitation will pull him down just as rapidly as it does the car."

"Also correct. Well, if the boy falls sixteen feet in one second, and the car falls sixteen feet too, how much nearer will the boy be to the bottom of the car at the end of that second than he was before?"

"You don't mean to say that he would n't be any nearer to it than he was before?"

"Most certainly I do. If two people are running a race, and one goes just as fast as the other, neither of them can get ahead."

"Of course not."

"Well, it's the same thing here. The car will travel just as fast as the boy. Consequently if, at the start, the boy is five feet away from the bottom of the car, he will remain five feet away. He is falling just as fast as the bottom of the car, and so cannot get any nearer to it. If he starts in the air he will remain in the air."

"You mean to say that he will remain floating in the air?"

"Precisely."

"But the air cannot support him. Air can only hold up very light bodies."

"Understand me. It is not the air that will