(as adjective) relating to, producing, or designed for a condition of zero gravity; (as noun) zero gravity: the state or condition in which there is no apparent force of gravity acting on a body, either because the force is locally weak, or because both the body and its surroundings are freely and equally accelerating under gravity; (also) a device or system that negates the force of gravity; cf. slightly earlier null-grav n.
Also null-gee.
You're about my age—you must remember when they shot the parts of the first moon rocket up to the Space Station. Alphonse Craig was putting them together. Greatest single-handed construction job ever done! He had to start from scratch, learning all the null-g and vacuum techniques without another pair of hands nor another brain to help him.
The Station job requires a little bit of brawn—wrestling with masses takes muscles, even in null-g.
I cite the Null-G anti-gravity installations of 2022.
You slept through the whole thing, it seems. Blast-off and null-g and everything.
Null-gee races were a favorite if slightly nonregulation game with midshipmen.
The hold was little more than a vast open sphere within which all kinds of cargo could be stored at null g.
‘Speaking of rotation—how are you handling null-g deconditioning in your people? I don’t—’ his eyes inventoried the enormous structure, ‘I don’t even see an exercise wheel. No spinning gym?’ ‘There’s a null-g gym. The rotating personnel get a month downside after every three-month shift.’
Leo released his seat restraints, and stretched and relaxed in the pleasurable familiarity of weightlessness. Not for him the unfortunate nauseas of null-g that sapped the efficiency of so many employees.
Good thing I hadn’t eaten recently. I was pretty sure puking in null-gee was even more disgusting than doing it was in normal gravity.
antedating 1953
Oliver Saari, "The Space Man"
Added to the OED in March 2004 as part of the entry for "null", with earliest date of 1956.
Last modified 2021-12-21 12:41:53
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