Mysterious gravity. Why doesn't the Earth fall into the Sun like any other planet? Centrifugal force of the Earth's rotation

Gravity is the most mysterious force in the Universe. Scientists still do not know its nature. But it is gravity that keeps the planets in orbit solar system. Without gravity, the planets would fly away from the Sun, like billiard balls hit by a cue.

Gravity - the force of gravity

If you look deeper, it will become clear that if there were no gravity, there would be no planets themselves. The force of gravity - the attraction of matter to matter - is the force that collected matter into planets and gave them a round shape.

The gravitational force of the Sun is quite enough to hold nine planets, dozens of their satellites and thousands of asteroids and comets. This whole company revolves around the Sun in a swarm, like moths around a lit balcony. If there were no gravity, these planets, satellites and comets would each fly their own path in a straight line. Instead, they revolve around the Sun in their orbits, because the Sun, by the force of its gravity, constantly bends their rectilinear trajectory, attracting planets, moons and comets with asteroids.

The planets circle around the star, just as ponies riding children walk in a circle, tied to a post in the center of this circle. The only difference is in the binding method. Cosmic bodies are tied to the Sun by invisible threads of gravity. True, the greater the distance between objects, the less the force of attraction between them. The sun has a much weaker pull on the planet Pluto, the outermost planet in the solar system, than on, say, Mercury or Venus. The force of gravity decreases (or increases) exponentially with distance.

Just like a pebble with a rubber band, our Earth will quickly fly away from the solar system if for some reason it suddenly ceases to be affected by gravity of the sun. Let's assume for a moment that this happened. Let's see what will happen then to our planet and all of us - the inhabitants of the Earth. The attraction of the sun.

When moving away from the Sun

Already when moving away from the Sun at a distance of approximately the planet Uranus, we will strongly feel a noticeable decrease in light and the influence of the life-giving rays of the sun. Then, with a great distance, the Sun will appear to us only in the form of a bright, little-warming star. After some time, we will observe the Sun in the form of a small, barely noticeable, faintly flickering star and, finally, we will lose it from sight. But much earlier than we lose sight of our daylight, all animal and plant life on Earth will cease to exist. The Earth will plunge into eternal darkness and cold, continuing to rush rapidly through the space of the Universe. There will be no air currents on Earth, there will be no tornadoes or thunderstorms, there will not be even the weakest breeze. Under the influence of global cold, the deepest oceans will freeze to the bottom. The earth will be covered with snow from liquid air, turn into an ice block, and eternal and deep silence will reign on it. In a word, our planet will become in many ways similar to its satellite, the Moon. Finally, this lifeless, frozen block may encounter some new solar system on its way through outer space. Under the influence of attraction central body of this system, the Earth will begin to circle around it, along with other planets already revolving around this new “Sun”. The Earth will find shelter in the family of the new world of planets, let’s say, without a new catastrophe. It may be heated and illuminated by the new Sun even more strongly than the previous one. Perhaps she will again become a “carrier of life,” but this time renewed. The old world will not be reborn. But everything told is just a fantasy. To our great satisfaction, and cannot “jump off” from it. Our Sun continuously attracts it with powerful force. And there is no force in nature that could disrupt this gravitational force of the sun. The only possibility is the invasion of our system by some other star. Then it will really erupt terrible disaster, described in Wells's science fiction story "The Star". The Sun not only holds the Earth (and other planets) at certain distances from itself, which generally change little, and somewhere in the boundless distances of space. This happens because the Sun has a mass of enormous size. Its volume is one million three hundred thousand times greater, and the mass of the Sun is approximately 750 times greater than the mass of all the planets of the solar system taken together. The gravitational force of the Sun is unusually strong. , does not stop falling on him, but cannot fall in any way, since its movement by inertia prevents this.

If the Earth stops moving in its orbit

But let's see what happens if the Earth suddenly, due to some unknown reasons will stop moving in its orbit. Then the Earth will rapidly fall towards the Sun at an incredibly high and ever-increasing speed. And, in the end, it will fall on him.
The rotation of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun. We, the inhabitants of the Earth, would soon notice an abundant increase in light and heat. We would immediately feel unbearably hot even if this catastrophe had caught us in the winter. The air temperature would rise so quickly, it would reach such a figure that it would no longer be possible to measure it with our ordinary thermometers. The huge ice sheets at the North and South Poles would quickly melt under these conditions, and the water resulting from the melting of these ice would turn into steam before it could spread over the surface of the Earth. The deepest seas and oceans will dry up. All vegetation will burn out. Even the most drought-tolerant plants will die. Animals and people will burn along with our entire planet. Even before the Earth manages to get close to the Sun, it will begin to turn into a lump of hot gases. This lump will plunge into the hot abyss of the Sun. We must remember that the temperature of the surface of the Sun is about 6,000 degrees, and the most refractory metals there are in a state of very hot gases. But nothing like that can happen. The Earth, thanks to the gravity of the Sun, will move around our luminary for millions of years, and no catastrophes will threaten it.

Why won’t the Moon be attracted to the Sun, since its gravitational force is 2 times greater??? and got the best answer

Answer from Uncle Fedor[guru]
It’s actually complete nonsense about “doubled strength”...
The Moon is attracted to the Sun. And the Earth is also attracted to the Sun. Thanks to this attraction, the Earth and Moon move in orbit around the Sun, rather than flying away along a straight path.

Answer from Nikolay Gorelov[guru]
Before answering this question, you need to recognize it as nonsense.

Answer from Vladimir Medvedev[newbie]
The question comes from the fact that there are two givens - the Earth and the Sun, and the Moon must choose between them, which one to be attracted to.
If the attraction is more towards the Earth, you will rotate around the Earth, if it is more towards the Sun, you will rotate around the Sun - or even fall onto it.
The implicit assumption here is that the Earth and the Sun themselves are fixed at certain points in space, since they are considered as two different bases, one of which the Moon must belong to. At least the influence of the Earth and the Sun on each other is not considered.
But in fact, this influence exists. And just as the Sun attracts the Moon, it also attracts the Earth just as strongly, and even more strongly.
Accordingly, they are attracted in tandem and “fall” towards the Sun. But the rotation of the Earth-Moon system around the Sun allows the centrifugal force and the gravitational force of the Sun to balance.

Answer from Anatoly Nizgodinsky[guru]
It is necessary to consider not the Moon separately, but the Earth-Moon pair! And don’t forget that they ROTATE around the sun!!!

Answer from Konstantin Okhotnik[guru]
Yes, you don’t need to look at the answers, but read a scientific book, at least a school textbook.
Don't worry, the Moon is attracted by both the Sun and the Earth! And it falls on both the Earth and the Sun, but it just can’t get there.
Why does the Sun act on the Moon with double force?

Answer from Evgeniy Yurtaev[expert]
then why don’t leaves or dust swirl around us? Logically, we have more iron inside and dust should be our companion 😀

Answer from Vlada Shatrova[active]
The earth is closer to the moon and the gravity is greater, but the sun is further away and the force of gravity decreases. So it turns out that the Moon “hangs” between the Sun and the Earth.

Answer from White Rabbit[guru]
Uncle Fyodor has the correct answer.
ALL bodies in the gravitational field move the same way, including the Moon and the Earth; if we consider the Earth-Moon system, then we can temporarily forget about the Sun
This is a consequence of the fact that there is actually no POWER of attraction (not twice as much, but NONE at all :)

Answer from Danilochkin Fedor[guru]
The earth doesn't let go. Do not forget about the mutual attraction of the earth and the moon.

Answer from 3 answers[guru]

Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: Why won’t the Moon be attracted to the Sun, because its gravitational force is 2 times greater???

The earth has the shape of a ball. But if this is so, then why don’t objects on it fall from its surface? Everything happens just the opposite. A stone thrown up comes back, snowflakes and raindrops fall down, dishes overturned from the table fly down. It's all because of the earth's gravity, which attracts earth's surface all material bodies.

It turns out that attractive forces arise between all bodies, including cosmic ones. If you follow logic, then a smaller body, which, for example, is the same Moon, must necessarily fall to Earth. A similar version can be put forward about our solar system. In theory, all the planets included in it should have fallen into the Sun long ago. However, this does not happen. A completely logical question arises: why?

Firstly, all the planets of the solar system stay near the sun, thanks to its enormous gravitational force, and do not fall on it only because they are in constant motion, which occurs in an elliptical orbit. The same can be said about the Moon, which also moves around the Earth and therefore does not fall on it. If there were no gravitational forces, then there would be no solar system. The Earth would roam freely through space, remaining deserted and lifeless.

A similar fate would have befallen its companion, the Moon. It would not have been circling the Earth in an elliptical orbit, but would have long ago chosen an independent route for itself. But, once in the zone of action of the earth's gravity, it is forced to change its rectilinear trajectory of movement to an elliptical one. If it were not for the constant movement of the Moon, it would have fallen to Earth long ago. It turns out that as long as the planets move around the Sun, they cannot fall on it. And all because they are constantly acted upon by two forces, the force of gravity and the force of inertia of motion. As a result, all planets do not move in a straight line, but in an elliptical orbit.

Strictly speaking, the existing order in the Universe is preserved only thanks to the law universal gravity, which was discovered by Isaac Newton. Everyone obeys him space objects, including artificial satellites Lands neglected by man. The same ebbs and flows that we witness are also caused by the mutual gravitational forces of the Moon, Earth and Sun. At the same time, the actions of the Moon are more pronounced, since it is much closer to the Earth than the Sun.

And yet, why doesn’t the Earth fall on the Sun, since its mass, compared to the celestial body, is hundreds of thousands of times less, and logically, it should instantly stick to it? This would definitely happen, but only if our planet stopped. But since it moves around the Sun at a speed of 30 kilometers per second, this does not happen. It also cannot fly away from it, due to the enormous forces of solar gravity. As a result, rectilinear movement The Earth gradually curves and becomes elliptical. The other planets of the solar system move similarly.

Scientists associated such high speeds of rotation of the planets with the peculiarity of the formation of the Solar system. In their opinion, it arose from a rapidly rotating cosmic cloud, which was subjected to gravitational compression towards the center, from which, subsequently, the Sun arose. The cloud itself had both angular and translational velocities. After compression, their value increased and was then transferred to the resulting planets. Not only the planets of the solar system move progressively, but also the system itself, and at a speed of 20 km/hour. The trajectory of this movement is directed towards the constellation "Hercules".

What caused the rotation and forward motion of the dust cloud itself?

Scientists agree that the entire Galaxy behaves this way. In this case, all objects located closer to its center rotate at a higher speed, and those further away - at a lower speed. The resulting difference in forces rotates the Galaxy, which determines the complex movement of the gas complexes included in it. In addition, the trajectory of their movement is influenced by galactic magnetic fields, star explosions and stellar wind.

Why doesn't the Earth-Moon system fall into the Sun?

Attraction by the Sun systems Earth-Moon very large.
Why doesn't this system fall into the Sun?

After all, the mass of the Sun is 329,000 times greater than the total mass of the Earth and the Moon.

Tides, caused by the mutual attraction of the Earth and the Moon, are stronger than solar ones. The Sun also causes relatively weak tides in the Earth-Moon system, stretching the Moon's orbit around the Earth and compressing it laterally.

Tidal actions from the Sun are weak because they depend on the DIFFERENCE of forces acting on the near and far sides of attracting objects, and the sizes of these objects are small compared to the distance to the Sun.

At the same time, the attraction of the Sun for the WHOLE Earth-Moon SYSTEM is very great.

Why doesn't it fall on the Sun? After all, the mass of the Sun is 329,000 times greater than the total mass of the Earth and the Moon. Of course, it would fall directly into the Sun if the Earth stopped in orbit, and did not move, as it does now, around the Sun at a speed of 30 kilometers per second. (At this speed, you can drive to Samara in 7 seconds!). And if not for the gravity of the Sun, the Earth would fly away tangentially to its orbit. The sun prevents this and forces all the bodies of the solar system to revolve around it.

Why do the bodies of the Solar System rotate in orbits at such high speeds?

Because the solar system was formed from a rapidly rotating cloud. The increase in its angular velocity was a consequence of the gravitational compression of the cloud towards its center of mass, in which the Sun was subsequently formed. Even before compression, the cloud already had angular and translational velocities. Therefore, the solar system not only rotates, but also moves in the direction of the constellation Hercules at a speed of 20 kilometers per second. And the Earth and the Moon also participate in this movement.

What is the reason for the translational and rotational movements of the cloud before its gravitational compression begins? “Our” cloud is a small part of one of the huge gas and dust complexes that fill our Galaxy. Of the numerous reasons that cause the complex movement of these complexes, we will name a few of the main ones.

Non-solid rotation of the Galaxy. A galaxy is not a solid body. The rotation speed of that part of the complex that is closer to the center of the Galaxy is greater than that which is further away; a pair of forces arises that rotate the gas and dust complex.

Magnetic fields of the Galaxy. The gas component contains ions, and the dust component contains iron and other metals. Interacting with complex galactic fields, the complexes move along magnetic field lines.

Supernova explosions. The supernova substance ejected during the explosion accelerates the surrounding gas and dust material at speeds of thousands of kilometers per second. “Novae” and other stars that shed their atmospheres are less effective.

Stellar wind. Hot giant stars, with their stellar wind, disperse the gas and dust matter from which they were formed,

There are many reasons. In the Galaxy, all objects have their own rotational and translational speeds.

The problem discussed in this note relates to the problems of cosmogony. Scientists have puzzled over it since the general understanding of the structure of our Solar system. This problem has been around for at least three hundred years. Now, in general, the problem has been qualitatively solved. Rakhil Menashevna wrote an informative note about this.

However, many mysteries still remain, especially in the quantitative calculation of the parameters of the Solar system. We have already written about some of these riddles. Some of them were described by Rakhil Menashevna. For example, why there is a lot of water on Earth, and how this water got to us.

I would really like to understand how the formation of our Sun and Solar System occurred. But this problem may never be completely resolved. The period of revolution of the Sun around the center of the Galaxy is approximately 250 million years. During the lifetime of the Sun, which is approximately 4.5 billion years, the Sun made 16-17 revolutions. During this time, apparently, our Sun diverged very far from its sisters, who were born with it. Therefore, in order to understand the initial conditions, it would be necessary to establish which stars are sisters to our Sun. But, unfortunately, we cannot do this yet. But it would be great to say - that star over there was born from the same cloud as the Sun, but this one was next to it at the time of birth.

For example, within a radius of 15 light years from the Sun there are two systems with a white dwarf. These are Sirius and Procyon. These systems are similar to each other. Were they born with the Sun or not?

Your unexpected question also interested me. I think that the assumption about the formation of Sun, Sirius and Procyon from one common cloud is true.

I also found in the reference book P.G. Kulikovsky that these stars have rather small relative radial velocities: they approach the Sun at speeds of 8 and 3 km/s, respectively, while most radial velocities of stars lie in the range of 20 - 30 km/s. Perhaps these stars still rotate together around the center of the Galaxy.

The purpose of my short articles is to explain the essence of the phenomena under consideration. I could supplement them with many details, but I try not to do this; even more details could be taken from the literature, and even more, as you rightly noted, are unknown to science.

Dear RMR_stra! Very interesting information! I've had an idea for quite some time!

Let's pretend that Sirius or Procyon were born with Sun from the same cloud. We know the age of the Sun. This is about 4.5 billion years. This is approximately half the lifespan of the Sun. White dwarfs cannot have a mass greater than twice the mass of the Sun. More likely somewhere around 1.5 solar masses. But stars with a mass two to one and a half times that of the Sun and live the same number of times less than the Sun, approximately, of course. But this means that white dwarfs in the Saturn and Procyon systems appeared quite recently. It is possible that our ancestors saw the shedding of the shells of these stars in the form of some kind of grandiose celestial fireworks. There is a so-called disk of Nebry. It is estimated to be about 5,000 years old. It has some arcs in the starry sky. The discarded shell should have looked like such sparkling arcs in the sky of the Earth. On the disk, the arcs are believed to be adjacent to the seven stars of the Pleiades. And they are located in almost the same sector of the sky as Sirius and Procyon.

Moreover, one can even assume that the ejected shell reaching the Solar System several hundred years after the ejection could cause increased condensation of moisture in the Earth’s atmosphere (due to an increase in the flow of charged particles), i.e. rain. Such rain could last the entire time during which the central part of the shell passes the Earth. And this time should be calculated in several tens of days.