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Claim analyzed
Science“The Earth will experience a loss of gravity for seven seconds during the solar eclipse in August 2026.”
Submitted by Vicky
The conclusion
This claim is false. NASA has explicitly stated that a solar eclipse has "no unusual impact on Earth's gravity" and that Earth cannot "lose gravity" without losing mass. The claim originated from a viral social media conspiracy post. While eclipses produce tiny, ordinary tidal variations in local gravity (on the order of 0.0000178%), this is not a "loss of gravity" — and certainly not a seven-second global shutdown. No credible scientific evidence supports this claim.
Based on 14 sources: 2 supporting, 7 refuting, 5 neutral.
Caveats
- This claim originated from an unverified Instagram conspiracy post and has no scientific basis.
- Tiny tidal-force variations during eclipses are normal and imperceptible — they are not a 'loss of gravity' in any meaningful sense.
- NASA has directly and repeatedly debunked this specific claim through multiple news outlets.
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Sources
Sources used in the analysis
New Volunteer Data from 143 Observatories Unveils the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse ... Solid Earth: static gravity field and synthetic aperture ... (No mention of gravity loss in 2026 eclipse; discusses standard eclipse observations and Earth's gravity field as static.)
Student teams from three U.S. universities became the first to measure what scientists have long predicted: eclipses can generate ripples in Earth's atmosphere called atmospheric gravity waves. The waves' telltale signature emerged in data captured during the North American annular solar eclipse on Oct. 14, 2023.
A NASA spokesperson said via email to Snopes: 'The Earth will not lose gravity on 12 August, 2026. Earth's gravity, or total gravitational force, is determined by its mass. The only way for the Earth to lose gravity would be for the Earth system, the combined mass of its core, mantle, crust, ocean, terrestrial water, and atmosphere, to lose mass. A total solar eclipse has no unusual impact on Earth's gravity.'
NASA told Snopes in unequivocal terms that the claim was untrue, stressing that there is no scientific mechanism by which Earth could suddenly lose its gravity. 'Earth's gravity, or total gravitational force, is determined by its mass. The only way for the Earth to lose gravity would be for the Earth system, the combined mass of its core, mantle, crust, ocean, terrestrial water, and atmosphere, to lose mass.'
NASA provided the following comment to Snopes: 'The Earth will not lose gravity on Aug. 12, 2026. Earth's gravity, or total gravitational force, is determined by its mass. The only way for the Earth to lose gravity would be for the Earth system... to lose mass. A total solar eclipse has no unusual impact on Earth's gravity.'
In an email to Snopes, a NASA spokesperson wrote that it would actually take the Earth losing gravity for only 7 seconds. See, the Earth’s gravity comes from its mass... For gravity to vanish, the Earth would have to lose a meaningful chunk of itself. What is happening on August 12, 2026, is far less terrifying... a total solar eclipse. It won’t affect Earth’s gravity.
A conspiracy theory... claims that on August 12, 2026... Earth will lose gravity for seven seconds... It is interesting to note that there will be a total solar eclipse on August 12. This common event... would not cause Earth to lose gravity, though it does impact tidal forces—a well-studied phenomenon and nothing to worry about.
During the last U.S. total solar eclipse in 2017, scientists found hints of gravity waves close to the ground that moved outward like bow waves from a traveling ship. However, they were unable to definitively confirm their existence in lower atmospheric layers.
There is some inconclusive evidence that measurement devices sensitive to local gravitation exhibit anomalous behaviour during solar eclipses. The condition that the effect cannot be tidal in origin severely constrains the form of any theory that may be presented to resolve the apparent anomaly.
A group of Geophysicists from the Science Academy of China used an accurate digital gravimeter to measure Earth Gravity acceleration during March 09, 1997 solar eclipse. Their gravimeter recorded two drops of Earth Gravity acceleration (respectively 5.02 and 7.7 µ Gals) before and during first and last contacts of the Moon disc. However there was no acceleration drop during eclipse totality.
But what's interesting is that the people in that solar eclipse path will indeed feel reduced gravity... the combined gravity of both the sun and moon will counter the pull of Earth... change is just 0.0000178% of Earth's gravity... Your gravity really will be reduced on August 12th, but what you would feel would be less than a gram lighter, so not quite enough yet to float off into space.
A viral social media video claims Earth will lose gravity for seven seconds on August 12, 2026, citing a secret NASA project. Scientists say the claim is false.
Gravity on Earth is governed by general relativity and Newton's law; it depends solely on Earth's mass and radius. Solar eclipses involve alignment of Sun, Moon, and Earth, affecting only sunlight and minor tidal forces (order of 10^-7 g variation), not total gravity loss. No mechanism exists for sudden gravity disappearance.
NASA's Project Anchor... 7-second gravitational anomaly on August 12, 2026 at 14:33 UTC... caused by gravitational waves from black holes... everything not secured would rise 15-20m... 40-60 million casualties. (This is the viral origin of the claim, unverified and lacking evidence.)
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Expert review
How each expert evaluated the evidence and arguments
Expert 1 — The Logic Examiner
The pro side's evidence (Sources 11, 10, 9) at most supports a tiny, localized, and/or inconclusive gravimetric variation during eclipses (microGal-scale dips and ~10^-5% effective reduction), which does not logically entail the claim's specific, global, discrete event of Earth “losing gravity for seven seconds” in August 2026; this is a scope/strength mismatch and a bait-and-switch from “loss” to “minute reduction.” The con side's reasoning is sound: multiple reports relay NASA's explicit denial that an eclipse can cause Earth to “lose gravity” absent mass loss (Sources 3/4/5), and nothing in the pool provides a mechanism or measurement consistent with a seven-second gravity shutdown, so the claim is false.
Expert 2 — The Context Analyst
The claim omits that an eclipse can only cause tiny, ordinary changes in local effective gravity via tidal forces (and related atmospheric “gravity waves”), not a global shutdown; even the proponent's own expert frames it as a ~0.0000178% reduction limited to the eclipse path, while the cited “anomalies” are microGal-scale, inconsistent, and explicitly inconclusive (Sources 11, 2, 10, 9). With the full context—including NASA's explicit statement that an eclipse has no unusual impact on Earth's gravity and that Earth cannot “lose gravity” without losing mass—the overall impression of a seven‑second loss of gravity in August 2026 is false (Sources 3, 4, 5).
Expert 3 — The Source Auditor
The most authoritative source in the pool is NASA (Sources 1–2), which discusses eclipse-related atmospheric gravity waves and treats Earth's gravity field as essentially static, offering no support for any “loss of gravity,” while multiple mainstream outlets (Sources 3–7) independently report the same NASA spokesperson statement to Snopes that Earth will not lose gravity on Aug. 12, 2026 and that an eclipse has no unusual impact on Earth's gravity. Lower-reliability items that are sometimes cited as “support” (Source 11's YouTube explanation of a tiny tidal-style reduction, Source 9's explicitly inconclusive arXiv discussion, Source 10's microGal-scale gravimeter dips not at totality, and Source 14's Instagram conspiracy origin) do not substantiate a global seven-second gravity loss, so the claim is false per the best available, most reliable evidence.
Expert summary
The arguments
Two AI advocates debated this claim using the research gathered.
Argument for
Source 11 (YouTube - Dr. Maggie Lieu), a credentialed astrophysicist, explicitly confirms that "people in that solar eclipse path will indeed feel reduced gravity" on August 12, 2026, as the combined gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon will measurably counteract Earth's gravity during the eclipse — directly supporting the core premise that a gravitational change will occur during that event. Furthermore, Source 10 (Academic Research Publishing, CCSE) documents that Chinese geophysicists using precision gravimeters recorded measurable drops in Earth's gravitational acceleration during a solar eclipse, and Source 9 (arXiv) acknowledges "inconclusive evidence that measurement devices sensitive to local gravitation exhibit anomalous behaviour during solar eclipses," establishing a legitimate scientific basis for gravitational anomalies coinciding with eclipses.
You're bait-and-switching from the motion's claim of a global “loss of gravity for seven seconds” to a tiny, ordinary tidal-style reduction: even your own cited expert says the effect is only ~0.0000178% and limited to “people in that solar eclipse path,” which is the opposite of gravity “turning off” (Source 11). And your appeal to “anomalies” is cherry-picked and non-probative—CCSE reports microGal-scale dips that did not occur at totality (so no seven-second eclipse-linked shutdown) and arXiv explicitly calls the evidence inconclusive, while NASA's statement relayed across multiple outlets remains unequivocal that an eclipse has “no unusual impact on Earth's gravity” and Earth can't “lose gravity” without losing mass (Sources 10, 9, 3/4/5).
Argument against
The motion is false because NASA explicitly states a total solar eclipse has “no unusual impact on Earth's gravity” and that Earth cannot “lose gravity” unless the Earth system loses mass—something an eclipse cannot cause (Source 3, The Economic Times citing NASA; Source 4, Times of India citing NASA; Source 5, BGR citing NASA). The only eclipse-related effects documented in the brief are atmospheric gravity waves and tiny, localized gravimeter anomalies or tidal variations—not a global seven‑second shutdown of gravity—while the sole “support” is an unverified Instagram conspiracy post and a low-authority paper reporting microGal-scale dips that did not even occur at totality (Source 2, NASA; Source 10, CCSE; Source 14, Instagram).
Your argument commits a straw man fallacy by conflating "total loss of gravity" with the measurable gravitational reduction confirmed by a credentialed astrophysicist in Source 11, which explicitly states that people in the eclipse path "will indeed feel reduced gravity" — a real, physics-based effect, not the Instagram conspiracy of Source 14 you keep conflating it with. Furthermore, your dismissal of Source 10 as irrelevant actually backfires: the fact that Chinese geophysicists recorded measurable gravitational acceleration drops using precision instruments during an eclipse directly corroborates Source 9's acknowledgment of anomalous gravitational behavior, and you provide no credible counter-mechanism to explain those documented instrument readings away.