Re: Why does the earth do a circular motion with the sun.
- From: "OG" <owen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2009 16:57:06 -0000
"Ed" <seahalo@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ac52fdba-6788-4075-a258-08eef7b54832@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Due to the gravity force between earth and sun, earth and sun should
be closer more and more.
But who make the earth go in circle path.
Same question between Moon and Earth.
Thanks.
The main reason is because of conservation of energy. For something to
spiral into the sun it would have to lose energy. In the absence of loss of
energy, the earth's orbit is (to all intents) a closed loop and is stable.
Of course, the orbit is not exactly circular, rather it is elliptical. This
helps to show the transfer of energy between gravitational potential energy
(which depends on the distance from the Sun) and kinetic energy (which
depends on the speed of the earth in its orbit).
When the Earth is at its furthest point from the sun in its orbital speed is
at its lowest, and when it moves closer to the sun its speed increases to a
maximum at the perihelion (closest point to the Sun). The earth's orbit then
takes it gradually away from the sun and its speed slows down until it
reaches aphelion when it is at its greatest distance from the sun.
.
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