How Does Gravity Affect the Moon’s Orbit?

Gravity is like a invisible string that pulls the moon toward Earth. But because the moon is moving sideways very fast, it keeps going around instead of crashing into us or drifting away. It’s like when you spin a ball on a string, if you let go, it flies off, but while you’re spinning it, it stays in a circle.

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Examples

  1. Imagine you're swinging a ball on a string around your head, gravity is like that string keeping the moon in place.
  2. If the moon stopped moving sideways, it would crash into Earth like a falling apple.
  3. If the moon went faster, it might escape Earth’s pull and float off into space.

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Categories: Physics · gravity· moon· orbit · Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.