2007-06-11 05:07:50 · 11 answers · asked by Lunus34 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Well, what you're asking is why doesn't the sun fall down, as well as the moon, the planets and the stars.
This is an excellent question, by the way. One of the greatest scientists in history, Isaac Newton, asked a question like it.
The answer has to do with gravity, which is the force that pulls all things towards each other. Whenever an apple falls from a tree (or you fall, if you're climbing the tree), gravity pulls it down to the earth.
But the earth is a planet, like all the others, and the sun is our star, which the earth and the planets all go around. All of these things are floating in space, like stuff floating in water.
Gravity pulls these objects together, but they are also moving. The earth and the planets move "sideways" to the sun, which keeps them from falling toward the sun; but gravity keeps pulling at them. This "sideways" motion and "downward" pull of gravity are balanced, so the earth and the planets go in a circle around the sun -- which is called an "orbit." Imagine having a ball on a string, and waving it in a circle around your head. The ball would be the earth, you would be the sun, and the string is like gravity.
This is the same reason the moon dosen't fall down. It orbits (goes in a circle) around the earth. The earth's gravity tries to pull it down (like the apple, and you), but because the moon is moving, it goes around in a circle instead.
This may be hard to imagine, because you're on the earth and stuck to it because of gravity. So it's hard to imagine a space where there wouldn't be any "up" or "down," just floating. But astronauts go up into space all the time, in rockets, so they get away from gravity, and orbit the earth just like the moon does.
2007-06-11 05:35:07 · answer #1 · answered by ELuhnAbroad 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Absolutely nothing. Take a baseball & throw it into the air. Then ask yourself: "What's suspending that ball?"
The answer is nothing. There are no strings attached to it.
But, you say, it will come down to the earth. Why does it? The answer is gravity, that invisible attraction between two objects - the baseball and the earth.
The sun is also affected by gravity - that invisible attraction between it and all other suns(stars) in the galaxy. That is why the sun and all the other suns(stars) circle around like a whirlpool about the center of the galaxy (which is also the center of mass of all the stars in the galaxy.
2007-06-11 05:20:08 · answer #2 · answered by p v 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The sun isn't "suspended" over anything. There is no up or down in space. The sun is in orbit around the center of the Milky Way galaxy due to its gravitational influence. The 8 major planets, 3 dwarf planets, and thousands of small solar system bodies are all in orbit around the sun for the same reason: the sun's gravity attracts them, and the angular velocity of the objects keeps them moving in their orbits.
2007-06-11 05:15:14 · answer #3 · answered by JLynes 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think only Pluto got suspended. The sun and other planets were behaving well and have been allowed to continue.
But Pluto is suspended for the time being. Maybe someday they'll let him rejoin the group.
2007-06-11 08:23:40 · answer #4 · answered by 62,040,610 Idiots 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Seems suspended, but at breakneck speed, they are all revolving around something, the Sun being the principal in the solar system is on itself not suspended, but moving, or putting better circulating, anything which stands in the Universe other than from the factor of equal push and pulls will disintegrate itself from the pressure of the vacuum. Thanks.
2007-06-11 06:04:04 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nothing is "suspended" in space. Everything is moving. The moon is moving around the Earth. The Earth/Moon system moves around the Sun. The Sun/Earth/Moon system moves around the center of our galaxy Milky way! The Galaxy itself is moving!
Gravity is what causes everything to be as it is...
2007-06-11 05:20:13 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well I'd say God.
The science of it is that the planets hold the moon through gravity. The Sun holds the planets with gravity. And the centrifigal (or perhaps gravity) spins the stars in a similar sort of orbit in the galaxy.
Look at pics of galaxys they have circular look like a larger version of our solar system.
2007-06-11 05:24:10 · answer #7 · answered by Lupin IV 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
think of the universe as a piece of paper, a flat 2D surface. everything lays on this surface but the sun is dense, very dense and it bends the paper (space) and it makes a depression in space, this depression is as big as our solar system but the focal point is the sun. a black hole as you might know is when the fuel runs out for a star and it implodes and turns into a singularity where it is this VERY dense object that just stretches space and makes everything near it go inside it.
my explanation may be confusing, but it makes sense if you read it hard enough
2007-06-11 05:18:28 · answer #8 · answered by TrevaThaKilla 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Man, open some books and watch the science channel or something.
2007-06-11 05:15:35 · answer #9 · answered by kevrigger 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
iT JUST EXISTS IN SPACE; IT DOESN'T NEED TO BE SUSPENDED.
2007-06-11 05:16:45 · answer #10 · answered by Gene 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋