how does the earth remain suspended in space?

Question

Nah, im serious..and i always wondered why we revolved around the sun and why our planet doesn't start falling and falling..

another thing..from what u guys are saying, the sun and the earth are like 2 magnets...of the same side..by that i mean the earth has a big S on it( lol) and so does the sun..And with the same type of magnetism, they psuh each other away but yet keep each other in it's place..kind of like a balance..correct?

Answer 1

It is maintained in an elliptical orbit around the sun by the force of gravity. The sun is maintained in an elliptical orbit around the center of the Milky Way galaxy by the force of gravity. The galaxy is at the outer reaches of the Virgo galaxy supercluster, which is held loosely in place by gravity. The universe as a whole is expanding in all directions. That's about it.

ADDED: Addy -

There is nothing pushing them apart except the relative velocities between them. If it wasn't for gravity, the earth would continue in a straight line out into the darkness of interstellar space. The gravity of the sun keeps it from doing that by pulling it into an elliptical orbit, and you are correct that the forces are nicely balanced to keep the system in equilibrium. But that's how the planets were formed in the first place; i.e. the planets formed where they were in equilibrium. These orbits have changed over the ages due to changes in mass, rotation speed, etc, but the system is still in equilibrium - for now.

Answer 2

morningfoxnorth has the best answer! You will learn the most about physics if you think about it really, really hard!

In order for something "to go" some place, that place has to be DIFFERENT from any other place. If you take the gravitational pull of the sun and all the other planets and stars away (which you automatically do by being in a co-moving coordinate system with earth, space looks the same in all directions. So how would the world select a place for the planet to go? And because it can't, things in motion, like the earth, tend to keep moving - or just sit at the same place until something changes.

Physicists call this insight "Noether's Theorem" and applied to the homogeneity of space it leads to the momentum conservation law.

And don't forget to look her up: Emmy Noether was a very smart woman!

Answer 3

Its all about GRAVITY. The sun is so massive and dense and it spins at a regular rate. You may already know the Earth spins at a regular rate and also it goes around the sun at a regular rate, exactly one year. One of the most powerful forces of the universe is gravity. The gravitational pull keeps the Earth and planets in ORBIT around the Sun. They are considered sattelites of the Sun. The moon is a sattelite of the Earth. Man made objects in space are held in place by the same forces. You will notice next time you see something in orbit is spinning slowly. When the shuttle puts something out into space for geostationary orbit you'll see that it will get it spinning before letting go. Gravity is a HUGE subject. Astrophysics is equally HUGE. I hope this is a good start on what you are looking for.

Answer 4

The Earth is not hanging suspended in space...

It is flying around in an orbit around the Sun at a tremendous rate of speed...something like 66,000 Miles per Hour. It is linked to the Sun by the Sun's gravitational pull. This gravitational pull is working on the Earth from a distance of about 93,000,000 miles away so it is very strong.

The Sun has a diameter that is 109 times bigger than the Earth, and it contains 99 percent of all the mass within our Solar System...so it is the big kid on the block, and can do anything it wants, so to speak.

Answer 5

Although we are rotating on an axis and around the sun, we seem 'suspended' in space. This 'suspension' is due to planetary gravity forces which gives its orbital path and as a result, there are 4 seasons for those who live away from the middle of the earth. Picture it like magnets that push and attract each other and rotating at the same time.

Answer 6

The earth is not really suspended in space, rather it is in an orbit around the sun and the sun is in an orbit around the galaxy etc. So you could say that the earth is constantly falling toward the sun but its orbital velocity is such that as it falls the curve of the orbit moves away from the sun and we never get closer to the sun. Essentially an orbit is an equilibrium, where the gravity pulling an object toward another object is equally balanced by its velocity spinning around the other object. This is that exact same way satellites of the earth (such as the moon) spin around the earth but never fall toward it.

Here is another way to understand orbits:
- As the object moves sideways, it falls toward the central body. However, it moves so quickly that the central body will curve away beneath it.
- A force, such as gravity, pulls the object into a curved path as it attempts to fly off in a straight line.

So in fact the earth is not suspended at all, it is constantly held in place by the sun’s gravity and its orbital velocity.

Answer 7

Umm...I'm thinking this question might be a joke, but just in case it's not, how do you mean "suspended"?

Space is completely empty and has no gravity (the force which makes things "fall"). Only objects with mass can warp the fabric of spacetime by way of gravity. With your choice of the word "suspended" you imply that something extremely massive lies "below" the Earth and wants to pull it "down". However, Earth is the most massive thing in our immediate spatial neighborhood.

In a more real sense, the Earth is "suspended" or fixed in its orbit by the enormous gravity of our sun (which contains over 99% of the mass in the entire solar system. Similarly, the moon is fixed in its orbit around the Earth by its comparartively massive gravity.

Hope this answers your question?

Answer 8

One theory is the there is a fabric of space time on which everything is sitting or moving on. This invisible fabric is moving with time and heavy objects like earth and sun create an area that allows for other objects to be attracted to them. I personally don't like this theory but it explains how gravity works. Another statement would be that our galaxy and solar system are moving through space. because we are attracted to the sun, the sun's gravity will keep us where we are in orbit despite the fact that the sun falls or rises in space.

Answer 9

omg. even i know this.
it stays in place because of gravity and how it is orbiting the sun. If we did not have the gravitational pull, we would just be floating in space. Its the same thing with the other planets in our solar system.
and no, we are not moving away from the sun. The theory is the big bang theory. It states that billions of years ago, a super giant ( or huge star in the universe) supernovaed. ( it exploded) From the left over radiation and particles, our planents started to form. This supernoza wiped out alot even galaxies that were light years away. The theroy is that, even to this day, galaxies are moving away from us. We are not moving away from them. Fact : when our sun, helios, supernovas we will not die. In fact the whole intire earth with have been destroyed by another supernoa, that is light years away from us.

Answer 10

Bruce is right...the Earth isn't just sitting there...It and its planetary friends are currently on a path expanding away from the center of the universe.

There is a theory that at some point this will come to an end, and that all of the matter will then begin to retract toward the center of the universe.