by mickydelfavero
Question by : Total eclipse ?
Here is the summary of Gravitational Forces of Sun - Moon, Earth - Moon during Total Eclipse when the Moon is between Sun and Earth.
F = GMm/r^2
Sun ----------------------------------- Moon ------------ Earth
S-M = 4.1984 x 10^20 M- E = 2.2 x 10^20
Net force on the Moon = 4.1984 x 10^20 Minus 2.2 x 10^20 = 1.998 x 10^20 towards Sun
At this point why earth force the moon to revolve around its centre when there is no force from the earth side . Net gravitational force on the moon is towards the sun not towards the earth ?
Best answer:
Answer by Anne MarieBoth earth and moon are constantly revolving around the sun. They are also revolving around their common center of gravity as they move around the sun, but they constantly move around the sun.
Their speed of revolution and the vast amount of angular momentum keeps them from simply dropping like proverbial rocks into the sun.
Think of astronauts aboard the Space Station. They are weightless, yet they are just a hundred miles or so farther from the center of the earth than you and me. Why? Why don't they fall?
The answer is that they ARE falling. But as fast as they fall, their momentum has carried them forward so that they endlessly fall around the earth, not into it. The same with the earth and moon, relative to the sun, during a total eclipse and at all other times.
What do you think? Answer below!
Bonnie Tyler
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Total eclipse ?
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