Gravity and Orbital Motion
Explore the force that keeps our feet on the ground and planets in orbit
Gravity is what pulls things toward each other. It’s why you come back down when you jump, and why the Moon goes around the Earth instead of floating away.
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Gravity is a force of attraction between objects with mass. The more massive an object is, the stronger its gravitational pull.
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Earth's gravity pulls objects toward its center at approximately 9.8 meters per second squared (9.8 m/s²).
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Orbital motion occurs when an object's forward motion balances with gravity, causing it to fall around rather than into the object it's orbiting.
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Planets orbit the Sun in elliptical paths due to the Sun's gravitational pull.
From Falling Apples to Curved Spacetime
Our understanding of gravity has evolved dramatically over centuries. From Newton's realization that the same force that makes apples fall also keeps the Moon in orbit, to Einstein's revolutionary concept that gravity is actually the curvature of spacetime caused by mass.
Key figures
Developed the law of universal gravitation in the 17th century, describing how all objects with mass attract each other.
Proposed the theory of general relativity in 1915, explaining gravity as the curvature of spacetime caused by mass and energy.
Formulated the laws of planetary motion in the early 17th century, describing how planets move in elliptical orbits.
Part of the Physics Playground
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