wahts keeping the earth from crashing into the sun? after all teh sun is massive and its gravity must be pullin the earth hard . so whats keeping us in orbit?
Well some would say veloicty of orbit, but the reality is that it is the attraction of the universe, known as the universal background constant a energy of some 2 degrees kelvin. You see the universe is a incredible heat sink, kind of like a black hole and it absorbs every thing in all directions nearly equallly. so the earth is pulled back and forth by the sun and the background constant, which at times has a pulse running though it that causes variation or a ripple every so offten as calculated by some. the occurancr of one of those ripples focused in are ared of the universe might change the earths orbit in one big motion ect... DWAYNE D.L.RABON
Mojo, just ignore Dwayne. He's completely missing his screws. Basically, think of it as a ball on a rope on a pole. Stretch the rope out and throw the ball. The ball is going straight, but then the rope pulls it back into an 'orbit' around the pole. The Earth would be going straight, but the sun pulls on the Earth using gravity (think of the rope). The reason we don't fall in is because our velocity and gravity are balanced so that we stay the same distance away.
that's interesting... so what determines the velocity and gravity? can the velocity and gravity be distorted or such in any way possible?
The velocity was determined by the way the solar system formed. Gravity is determined by the mass of the earth & sun, and the distance between them. Here's a link for gravity:http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/orbv.html Here's a link for system formation:http://cougar.jpl.nasa.gov/HR4796/anim.html
