The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy states, "There is an art, it says, or rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." It actually isn't far off the ball. Orbit occurs when a falling object's trajectory is so large, that it goes completely around the Earth and never hits the ground. Essentially every time an object tries to fall to another one, it misses and tries again.
I've always wondered how this questions might turn out if they were done to thick religious believers. I've nothing against religion, I was just wondering... You should do a video about this ;)
The Earth's gravitational pull is constantly tugging on the Moon. The reason the Moon doesn't come crashing down into the Earth is that it is moving laterally to the Earth, creating centrifugal (outward) force equal and opposite to that of the Earth's gravity.
@Quinston82 centrifugal force only 'exists' if we analyse the motion in the accelerating frame of reference of the moon. More conventionally we would say the moon experiences an unbalanced force of attraction towards Earth and therefore accelerates towards it. It never gets any close to Earth because of its large lateral velocity.
@Quinston82 centrifugal force is not actually a real force. It's a symptom felt because of a fizical connection between objects. For example if you spin a heavy object tied with a rope around your hand, you feel the object pulling away. But remove the rope and there is no force. The real force is inertia. The moon continuously tends to move in a straight line away from the earth but it is pulled by the gravitational field of the earth (it's own as well), which generates the orbital motion
@Quinston82 well, you can consider the gravitational attraction between the earth and the moon as a rope, an elastic one. It's not a complete equivalent, but in terms of centrifugal force, it has the same effect.
The moon stays in orbit because it has it's own gravity that prevents it from falling to the Earth. Satellites, however, don't have a gravity of their own and they're literally in free fall.
@ixorafy Hi! To avoid confusion I'd like to state that I'm a new guy in the conversation. Now you're wrong: sattelites, like all massive objects, generate their own gravity. The only real difference between the moon and the sattelites you're referring to is that the moon isn't manmade. I don't really get why you made this mistake, but I get the impression that you have something fundamentally wrong about how forces work. I'll be happy to answer some questions if you want?
@Hindrik1986 tard . the objects with least mass orbit the next and the next the third and so on , like the moon orbits earth , earth orbits sun , sun orbits center of galaxy , galaxy orbits great attractor and the next is unknown. the moon can't orbit the sun because it can't escape earth's pull
@sdfefde I misspoke, I meant to say they orbit a central point of mass. But you're obviously not a physics major, if you think that's the way orbits work
@Aviatorsmith on youre way of thinking, we are not even orbiting the sun, we are all, including the sun orbiting the center of the galaxy ... oh wait, no, actually, we are orbiting the gravity center of the local cluster of galaxies ... oh no, we are actually orbiting the center of mass between our local galaxy cluster and the neighboring galaxy clusters.... and so on, get the point?
@Aviatorsmith No it isn't, the moon doesn't orbit the center of the earth. The moon and the earth orbit their central point of mass, called the barycenter.
@Hindrik1986 I was just hinging on your phrasing of the statement. In fact you can extrapolate ad infinitum and say that the moon orbits the barycentre of the point mass of our solar system and the centre of our galaxy and so on.
@Hindrik1986 And yes, the barycentre is within the earth. The moon doesn't orbit the centre of mass of the earth but it's still in freefall around the earth.
@Aviatorsmith why do you think is within the earth? the moon is not that much smaller than the earth. The moon's gravitational field also influences the earth, making the earth orbit around the moon a bit as well. So together they are actually forming a system that spins about its center of mass (in other words both the earth and the moon orbit that center of mass)
@AlexLapugean The barycentre of the moon and the Earth is within the Earth. I know what i'm talking about, i'm just going against his wording as I had nothing better to do.
@Aviatorsmith Really? did you figure out this yourself? You should apply for a Nobel prize because you seam to know things that astrologists do not know...
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
The earths gravitational force pulls the moon into the atmoshphere but the MOONS gravitational force is pushing itself away from the earth its like if you take a north pole of a magnet and another north pole they would reapel each other.
@dianaruslanovna Um, no. The gravitational force is always attractive. And thankfully the moon doesn't get pulled into our atmosphere. The pull from the Earth is what keeps the moon orbiting around the Earth.
I'm an American and I must admit that kids from the U.K. are much much smarter than our kids and young adults here in the states..stupid should be written on the head of every ignorant American in my country
@sidewaysfcs0718 I'm pretty sure the moon is going away from the earth every year. If you mean just the orbit, then I think you're right, but it wants to go in a straight line away from the earth. Gravity keeps it where it is.
@thesoxpride10 You've seen the demonstration with the bowling ball on a trampoline? Because if so that is only a 2D view of the very 3D (or maybe 11D) spacetime. I'm no expert on this, though, but from my understanding you have to imagine a bunch of trampolines packed on top of each other very tightly and when the bowling ball is placed it pushes away those trampolines to make room for itself.
Don't take my word to heart because, as I said, i'm no expert and that is just how I interpreted it.
Sorry if I came on a bit strong, I didn´t mean too. However, this factual error is not miniscule but leads viewers to believe that objects in space orbit one another when they are in fact orbiting a common point of gravitational equilibrium. Too bad, because I enjoyed the clöip in other respects.
It´s not "similar" to how satellites orbit the earth, it´s exactly the same. The moon IS a satellite. Also, the earth attracts the moon by gravitational force, but the moon also attracts the earth so the moon and earth cirlce around a shared point of gravitational equilibrium (even though this point, the barycentre, is well within the earths sphere). Get it right.
See what I did there? I blatantly made a critical comment with a harsh attitude about a miniscule error which no one really cares about. Your added explanations are informative but that's beside my point. Granting that you do have knowledge in this particular matter, do yourself and everyone else a favour and don't ruin it with your attitude. Take this as advice, not an attack.
1: It orbits Earth and is greatly purtubed by the Sun
2: It orbits the Sun and is slightly purtubed by the Earth.
Clohessy and Wiltshire actually derived dynamics (from idea 2) eqs to solve for the moon's position relative to the earth (as two close bodies orbiting the sun), but it was too inacurate for sea travel since the Earth's mass/gravity was too large to not take into account. They are now used for relative satellite dynamics.
@Jon110334 Sorry, it was Hill, that originally did it for the relative lunar trajectory. Clohessy and Wiltshire came by in the '60s and changed the reference frame, renamed it, and applied it to satellites.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy states, "There is an art, it says, or rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." It actually isn't far off the ball. Orbit occurs when a falling object's trajectory is so large, that it goes completely around the Earth and never hits the ground. Essentially every time an object tries to fall to another one, it misses and tries again.
Popuphater007 2 days ago
The moon falls towards the earth, but it keeps missing. Thus, the moon can fly.
PykohYT 1 week ago
I've always wondered how this questions might turn out if they were done to thick religious believers. I've nothing against religion, I was just wondering... You should do a video about this ;)
MrPeeepe 1 month ago
@MrPeeepe The moon orbits the earth by god's will :))
AlexLapugean 2 weeks ago
The Earth's gravitational pull is constantly tugging on the Moon. The reason the Moon doesn't come crashing down into the Earth is that it is moving laterally to the Earth, creating centrifugal (outward) force equal and opposite to that of the Earth's gravity.
Quinston82 1 month ago
@Quinston82 centrifugal force only 'exists' if we analyse the motion in the accelerating frame of reference of the moon. More conventionally we would say the moon experiences an unbalanced force of attraction towards Earth and therefore accelerates towards it. It never gets any close to Earth because of its large lateral velocity.
1veritasium 1 month ago 3
@Quinston82 centrifugal force is not actually a real force. It's a symptom felt because of a fizical connection between objects. For example if you spin a heavy object tied with a rope around your hand, you feel the object pulling away. But remove the rope and there is no force. The real force is inertia. The moon continuously tends to move in a straight line away from the earth but it is pulled by the gravitational field of the earth (it's own as well), which generates the orbital motion
AlexLapugean 2 weeks ago
@AlexLapugean Yes, so it isn't centrifugal force after all. There is no rope that I know of connecting the Moon to the Earth!
Quinston82 1 week ago
@Quinston82 well, you can consider the gravitational attraction between the earth and the moon as a rope, an elastic one. It's not a complete equivalent, but in terms of centrifugal force, it has the same effect.
AlexLapugean 1 week ago
The moon stays in orbit because it has it's own gravity that prevents it from falling to the Earth. Satellites, however, don't have a gravity of their own and they're literally in free fall.
ixorafy 1 month ago
@ixorafy That is wrong. Both the moon and satellites have their own gravity and both are in free fall.
Aviatorsmith 2 weeks ago
@Aviatorsmith What I mean is that the moon generates its own gravity and satellites do not.
ixorafy 2 weeks ago
@ixorafy Hi! To avoid confusion I'd like to state that I'm a new guy in the conversation. Now you're wrong: sattelites, like all massive objects, generate their own gravity. The only real difference between the moon and the sattelites you're referring to is that the moon isn't manmade. I don't really get why you made this mistake, but I get the impression that you have something fundamentally wrong about how forces work. I'll be happy to answer some questions if you want?
TakesTwoToTango 2 weeks ago
@ixorafy every body that has mass, at any scale (even an apple for example), has gravity. The only difference is the magnitude.
AlexLapugean 2 weeks ago
@ixorafy this is wrong on so many levels.... I can't even begin to explain
AlexLapugean 2 weeks ago
Now go ask this question at a Christian university! lol, I think we all pretty much know how that would turn out.
Raxarax 1 month ago
The moon doesnt orbit the earth. The earth and the moon orbit a central point of gravity
Hindrik1986 1 month ago 4
@Hindrik1986 tard . the objects with least mass orbit the next and the next the third and so on , like the moon orbits earth , earth orbits sun , sun orbits center of galaxy , galaxy orbits great attractor and the next is unknown. the moon can't orbit the sun because it can't escape earth's pull
sdfefde 2 weeks ago
@sdfefde I misspoke, I meant to say they orbit a central point of mass. But you're obviously not a physics major, if you think that's the way orbits work
Hindrik1986 2 weeks ago
@sdfefde The moon is orbiting the sun. We are all orbiting the sun. It's just that our orbits are affected by the additional mass of the Earth.
Aviatorsmith 2 weeks ago
@Aviatorsmith on youre way of thinking, we are not even orbiting the sun, we are all, including the sun orbiting the center of the galaxy ... oh wait, no, actually, we are orbiting the gravity center of the local cluster of galaxies ... oh no, we are actually orbiting the center of mass between our local galaxy cluster and the neighboring galaxy clusters.... and so on, get the point?
AlexLapugean 2 weeks ago
@sdfefde Are you serious? Why are people with no scientific training just spit out words on subjects they don't understand?
AlexLapugean 2 weeks ago
@Hindrik1986 That central point of gravity is within the Earth. Your argument is invalid.
Aviatorsmith 2 weeks ago
@Aviatorsmith No it isn't, the moon doesn't orbit the center of the earth. The moon and the earth orbit their central point of mass, called the barycenter.
Hindrik1986 2 weeks ago
@Hindrik1986 I was just hinging on your phrasing of the statement. In fact you can extrapolate ad infinitum and say that the moon orbits the barycentre of the point mass of our solar system and the centre of our galaxy and so on.
Aviatorsmith 2 weeks ago
@Aviatorsmith yes, the moon orbits the earth, the sun, the galaxy, and so on. All statements are true
AlexLapugean 2 weeks ago
@Hindrik1986 And yes, the barycentre is within the earth. The moon doesn't orbit the centre of mass of the earth but it's still in freefall around the earth.
Phrasing is a bitch.
Aviatorsmith 2 weeks ago
@Aviatorsmith /watch?v=uGBANgbRkws
Hindrik1986 2 weeks ago
@Aviatorsmith why do you think is within the earth? the moon is not that much smaller than the earth. The moon's gravitational field also influences the earth, making the earth orbit around the moon a bit as well. So together they are actually forming a system that spins about its center of mass (in other words both the earth and the moon orbit that center of mass)
AlexLapugean 2 weeks ago
@AlexLapugean The barycentre of the moon and the Earth is within the Earth. I know what i'm talking about, i'm just going against his wording as I had nothing better to do.
Aviatorsmith 1 week ago
@Aviatorsmith Really? did you figure out this yourself? You should apply for a Nobel prize because you seam to know things that astrologists do not know...
AlexLapugean 2 weeks ago
@Hindrik1986 You are correct sir, one of the few who actually know this. That point is called the center of mass.
AlexLapugean 2 weeks ago
@AlexLapugean It's actually called the barycenter, I misspoke when I said center of gravity, I ment to say the center of mass.
Hindrik1986 2 weeks ago
@Hindrik1986 central point of mass
Hindrik1986 2 weeks ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
The earths gravitational force pulls the moon into the atmoshphere but the MOONS gravitational force is pushing itself away from the earth its like if you take a north pole of a magnet and another north pole they would reapel each other.
dianaruslanovna 1 month ago
@dianaruslanovna Um, no. The gravitational force is always attractive. And thankfully the moon doesn't get pulled into our atmosphere. The pull from the Earth is what keeps the moon orbiting around the Earth.
1veritasium 1 month ago 16
@dianaruslanovna Gravity doesn't "push" anything, it always "pulls" two objects together.
Task5003 1 month ago
I'm an American and I must admit that kids from the U.K. are much much smarter than our kids and young adults here in the states..stupid should be written on the head of every ignorant American in my country
wonnthree 1 month ago
It's charlie's smarter twin brother.
Clueless41 1 month ago
this guy looks like anthony green
AndyAngelZ 2 months ago
now , we can get into some complex relativity stuff with curved space and whatnot but a simple answer is what i said earlier
sidewaysfcs0718 3 months ago
the moon is actually free falling twards the earth, but because it has a sideways motion it keeps spinning around the earth
sidewaysfcs0718 3 months ago
@sidewaysfcs0718 I'm pretty sure the moon is going away from the earth every year. If you mean just the orbit, then I think you're right, but it wants to go in a straight line away from the earth. Gravity keeps it where it is.
gordoa40 3 months ago
@gordoa40 no, gravity wants to pull it twards us, its the inertia that keeps it where it is , the moon wants to do 2 things
1. go in a straight line away from us.
2. fall twards us because of gravity
the result is the orbital motion....its the balance of 2 directions it wants to go in.
sidewaysfcs0718 3 months ago
@gordoa40 and its inertia is do to the fact that the moon formed while spinning around us in the first place
as did all the planet form around the stun , from space dust that naturally starts spiralling twards the centre of gravity.
sidewaysfcs0718 3 months ago
@sidewaysfcs0718 thats wrong
CakesnakeFilms 2 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
If the Earth is pulls the moon, why is that the moon is moving away from Earth?
Moongazerr 4 months ago
@Moongazerr because the moons orbit is slowly losing energy and alowing the moon to escape the earths grasp.
kimihiro111 1 month ago
Doesnt the moon kind of roll along a crater formed in a flat space by the Earth?
thesoxpride10 4 months ago
@thesoxpride10 You've seen the demonstration with the bowling ball on a trampoline? Because if so that is only a 2D view of the very 3D (or maybe 11D) spacetime. I'm no expert on this, though, but from my understanding you have to imagine a bunch of trampolines packed on top of each other very tightly and when the bowling ball is placed it pushes away those trampolines to make room for itself.
Don't take my word to heart because, as I said, i'm no expert and that is just how I interpreted it.
Baboonaiih 3 months ago
@thesoxpride10 you're taking the analogy too literally.
CakesnakeFilms 2 months ago
omg im 13 and i know that the moon is just falling forever while gravity is keeping it in orbit!!!
Minecraft315 5 months ago
@Minecraft315 congrats...
MegaTim42 4 months ago
@Minecraft315 give this kid a medal !
ultimatean 4 months ago
@Minecraft315 good for you
Vertigo671 1 month ago in playlist veritasium
the moon's actually getting farther away every time
EmpereurNapoleonex 5 months ago
congratulations. you must have finished 4th grade science class w/ an A+!
dcultivate 5 months ago
more... ;)
bellehand2009 5 months ago
Sorry if I came on a bit strong, I didn´t mean too. However, this factual error is not miniscule but leads viewers to believe that objects in space orbit one another when they are in fact orbiting a common point of gravitational equilibrium. Too bad, because I enjoyed the clöip in other respects.
BashfulBob 6 months ago
It´s not "similar" to how satellites orbit the earth, it´s exactly the same. The moon IS a satellite. Also, the earth attracts the moon by gravitational force, but the moon also attracts the earth so the moon and earth cirlce around a shared point of gravitational equilibrium (even though this point, the barycentre, is well within the earths sphere). Get it right.
BashfulBob 7 months ago
@BashfulBob
It's earth's, not "earths". Get it right.
See what I did there? I blatantly made a critical comment with a harsh attitude about a miniscule error which no one really cares about. Your added explanations are informative but that's beside my point. Granting that you do have knowledge in this particular matter, do yourself and everyone else a favour and don't ruin it with your attitude. Take this as advice, not an attack.
Viktorior 6 months ago
I love how you copy their gestures so you can relate to them!
Arghira 8 months ago
"Probably gravitation. I'm guessing". LOL
PablitoJardinero 11 months ago
There's actually two ways to look at it.
1: It orbits Earth and is greatly purtubed by the Sun
2: It orbits the Sun and is slightly purtubed by the Earth.
Clohessy and Wiltshire actually derived dynamics (from idea 2) eqs to solve for the moon's position relative to the earth (as two close bodies orbiting the sun), but it was too inacurate for sea travel since the Earth's mass/gravity was too large to not take into account. They are now used for relative satellite dynamics.
Jon110334 1 year ago
@Jon110334 Sorry, it was Hill, that originally did it for the relative lunar trajectory. Clohessy and Wiltshire came by in the '60s and changed the reference frame, renamed it, and applied it to satellites.
Jon110334 1 year ago
the girl at :42 is SO CUTE.
zebruh 1 year ago
what about warping of space time???
jlindebergstylez 1 year ago
doesnt the moon move away from the earth a couple of inches a year?
nubbs 1 year ago
about a centimeter a year i think @nubbs
boygens88 1 year ago
@boygens88
i think it's closer to 4cm
nubbs 1 year ago
awww no one really got it wrong this time!
ezekiel0920 1 year ago