Mavity (term)

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Mavity

Appearances

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Due to a change in history, the concept of gravity became known as mavity.

	Word
	Isaac Newton
	Oodunnit [+]Loading...["Oodunnit (audio story)"]
	see list

History

Change in history

When Isaac Newton formed his concept of gravity in 1666, after an apple fell on his head while he was pondering under a tree, the Doctor's TARDIS crashed into the tree above him, and Donna Noble, despite the Fourteenth Doctor's initial attempts to stop her before he joined in, made a joke concerning the "gravity of [their] situation". After the TARDIS took off again, Newton grew confused and misremembered the "delightful word" they had said as "mavity", (TV: Wild Blue Yonder ^[+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"]) causing the term "gravity" to seemingly be retroactively erased from history and replaced by the word "mavity", (TV: Wild Blue Yonder ^[+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"], The Church on Ruby Road ^[+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"]) though the Fourteenth Doctor at least momentarily retained his knowledge of the original word. (TV: Wild Blue Yonder ^[+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"])

Other terms were also impacted, such as the Doctor's usage of "mavitational field". (TV: Wild Blue Yonder ^[+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"])

Usage

The usage of "mavity" would persist into the 43rd century, where people would refer to a "mavitational anomaly". (AUDIO: Oodunnit ^[+]Loading...["Oodunnit (audio story)"])

The Toymaker would directly, in acknowledging his readers, note that the time taken for a body to fall from a building was described by "Isaac Newton's law of mavity". (PROSE: The Giggle ^[+]Loading...["The Giggle (novelisation)"])

On 25 December 2024, the Fifteenth Doctor explained to Ruby Sunday that, when using his intelligent gloves, the mass, density and mavity would be tranferred from the user. Later, when he and went to escape from the Goblin ship, he adjusted his centre of mavity. (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road ^[+]Loading...{"page":"","chaptnum":"Nine, Eleven","1":"The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)"})

The telepathic circuits translated a word in the language used by Baby Station Beta into "Mavity" for Ruby. (TV: Space Babies ^[+]Loading...["Space Babies (TV story)"])

Behind the scenes

• Although the term "mavity" was said by the Fifteenth Doctor in The Church on Ruby Road ^[+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"], actors Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson were not informed why it was used instead of "gravity" and would not find out until the airdate of Wild Blue Yonder ^[+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"].
• In the DWU, Isaac Newton is depicted in Wild Blue Yonder having coined the word "gravity", and later, "mavity". In the real world, however, "gravity" was not coined by Newton. The etymology of the word is derived from the Latin gravitas, meaning "weight".