an artificial satellite orbiting the earth does not fall down because the earth's attraction?

Answer 1

Think of the earth's gravity as a leash. If you have a dog and you pull the leash then the dog will be forced to come to you. But if the dog starts running and you stand still keeping the leash tight, then the only thing the dog can do is to start spinning around you with the leash stretched. The harder you pull the leash the faster the dog should be running in order not to come to you. If it can't run any faster or stops or slows down it you will eventually be able to pull it to you. That's what happens to satellites. They spin around the earth because of the leash that is called gravity. The force of the earth's gravity is constant and it depends of the mass of the satellite. So the satellite must have a minimum speed in order not to fall back to earth. So if it stops or it slows down...you imagine... :-)

Answer 2

By tying one end of an elastic rubber band to a stone and keeping other end on the hand, one can make the stone move along a circular path.

As the speed increases the radius of the circle increases, the length of the rubber band increases. This shows that the rubber band pulls the stone toward the center.
Yet the stone does not come to the center and is keeping the circular motion.

If an object is having some linear speed and if a force is made to act perpendicular to the direction of the speed, then the object will follow a circular path. We can also say that for a body to be in circular motion there must be a centripetal force (force to ward the center) to the direction of its velocity.

The artificial satellite, like moon, is pulled by gravity toward the center of the earth. But they do possess velocity in a direction perpendicular to this force. Hence they follow a circular path. If the velocity of the satellite decreases then they will follow a circular path of lesser radius. If the velocity continuously decreases, they will follow a spiral path before reaching the ground. On any circumstance ( Ofcourse the velocity must be perpendicular the force) it will not fall vertically down along the direction of any radius of earth.

Answer 3

Actually, it's constantly falling down because of the Earth's gravitational pull. Only thing is, it's also moving sideways really fast -- fast enough that it "misses" the Earth while falling. By then, it's clear on the other side of the Earth, so gravity is pulling it in a different direction, and the process keeps going. This is what's known as orbit. If the sattelite isn't moving "sideways" fast enough, eventually the Earth will keep pulling it in closer and closer until it eventually crashes to Earth or burns up in the atmosphere.

Answer 4

The centipetal and centrifugal forces on the satellite balance out. As long as the velocity of the satellite is not significantly reduced by friction (low orbiting satellites do encounter some friction with the atmosphere), the satellite stays in the orbit.

Answer 5

the earth's attraction keeps it from floating away. The gravity from other satelittes and planets and stars also helps to keep it in place. so if the earth had no gravity, any artificial satelite
would simply float away to another planet or space object.

Answer 6

...is exactly counterbalanced by the speed of the satellite; thus, the satellite neither crashes to earth, nor escapes into space.

Answer 7

...is weaker outhere.