Gravity

Gravity or gravitation was the attraction between two bodies, dependent on their masses and the distance between them. Empirically speaking, gravity was what kept a being's feet on the ground and caused dropped objects to fall. All bodies, including planets, moons and stars, exerted gravity. The larger a body was, the more gravity it had, and the harder it "pulled" other things toward its center. On the surface of a planetary body, that direction was commonly referred to as "down." In realspace, however, there was very little natural gravity, which is why starships utilized artificial gravity generators to simulate it. Orbiting a planet resulted from the perfect balance between gravity and the ship's forward motion toward the planet.

In the modern galactic civilizations, there existed certain technologies that countered the effects of gravity. An example of common low-maintenance antigrav devices were the repulsorlifts, which allowed landspeeders to hover, helped starships for liftoffs and landings. Other gravity-altering devices included tractor beam projectors and acceleration compensators.

Most inhabited planets and moons in the galaxy had an acceleration of gravity at or near standard gravity of 9.81 m/s². For beings who evolved on worlds that had standard gravity, traveling to planets that had lower or higher ones could be a disturbing experience. On a lower-than-standard gravity planet, a Human could jump very high effortlessly. On a higher-gravity world, however, the same Human could feel plastered to the ground. For example, the planet Carida had a gravity nearly twice the galactic standard, which was turned into an advantage: Carida was the site of a reputed Military Academy, and its higher gravity enhanced the challenge of field maneuvers. Some believed that low-grav locations such as Columus had health benefits to obese beings by reducing strain on the heart and increasing mobility. It was not at all the case, however. In fact, those who maneuvered on a low-gravity planet reduced their muscle use, which only tended to slow metabolism.

Gravity was responsible for helping Obi-Wan Kenobi find the missing planet of Kamino, as all nearby objects were drawn towards the spot where Kamino was supposed to be, though nothing was recorded in the Jedi Archives at those coordinates.

Text and facts from the “Gravity/Legends” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.