Astronomy and Astrophysics

Orbits

Why doesn't the Earth fall into the Sun?

Ask anyone why the Earth orbits the sun, and they will tell you, "gravity". However, what does gravity do to a dropped ball on Earth? It falls down.

Imagine a ball tossed in an arc. The ball travels both in the horizontal direction and in the vertical direction. With the Earth and the Sun, the Earth is constantly "falling" in the same manner, but it just overshoots the Sun, and falls around it instead of towards it.

This is because the Earth has some horizonatl motion. If the Earth were just sitting still, gravity would pull it straight towards the Sun, and things would get real real hot!

Join us at the camp to create a computer model of the Earth and the Sun!