- #36
revesz
- 74
- 2
how can you say that the Earth doesn't go around the sun?
the sun is as we have mathematically proven much much larger than the earth, and has a far greater mass. so if you believe gravity is directly a result of the presence of mass, and larger massed objects have greater gravitational pulls, then you could assume that the Earth more or less goes around the sun.
In fact it isn't that the Earth goes perfectly round the sun while the sun sits perfectly centered, the Earth and the sun both rotate around their centre of gravity. But since the sun is so much bigger than Earth it is easiest to say that the Earth goes around.
for example think of two Earth's orbiting each other, each would view the other as going "around". It is all relative but there are ways to make the information more usefull. in this case, the Earth is farther from the centre of the mass and so would be seen as the one orbiting. also the fact that there are other planets orbiting the sun makes it easier to say it is at the center of things, because the planets balance each other out, in a way so that the sun is more or less always in the middle.
So if you had a planet the size of earth, and put it in orbit around another planet that is twice as big, you would see both orbiting around a center of gravity, where the momentum of the mass on either side of the axis is equal, you could not say that the smaller planet is the one orbiting, because they both move around the same way. only the smaller one moves more, so it seems to be the one orbiting.
one distinction that can be made to clarify which one is orbiting, would be to trace the paths of the two objects aound there axis of motion. the one with the larger circle traced by its motion could then be labelled as orbiting around the other. I would have to assume that this is the case with the earth, although i don't have any proof, only logical reasoning.
If you want proof, i can give you proof but that requires you to assume that the sun is far more massive than the earth. for my proof i would tell you to do a simulation, take a basket-ball, make a wire come out from the ball and place a marble on the end. spin the ball and throw it in the air so it spins freely, then observe that the basket-ball does not spin around the marble. that's your proof.
the sun is as we have mathematically proven much much larger than the earth, and has a far greater mass. so if you believe gravity is directly a result of the presence of mass, and larger massed objects have greater gravitational pulls, then you could assume that the Earth more or less goes around the sun.
In fact it isn't that the Earth goes perfectly round the sun while the sun sits perfectly centered, the Earth and the sun both rotate around their centre of gravity. But since the sun is so much bigger than Earth it is easiest to say that the Earth goes around.
for example think of two Earth's orbiting each other, each would view the other as going "around". It is all relative but there are ways to make the information more usefull. in this case, the Earth is farther from the centre of the mass and so would be seen as the one orbiting. also the fact that there are other planets orbiting the sun makes it easier to say it is at the center of things, because the planets balance each other out, in a way so that the sun is more or less always in the middle.
So if you had a planet the size of earth, and put it in orbit around another planet that is twice as big, you would see both orbiting around a center of gravity, where the momentum of the mass on either side of the axis is equal, you could not say that the smaller planet is the one orbiting, because they both move around the same way. only the smaller one moves more, so it seems to be the one orbiting.
one distinction that can be made to clarify which one is orbiting, would be to trace the paths of the two objects aound there axis of motion. the one with the larger circle traced by its motion could then be labelled as orbiting around the other. I would have to assume that this is the case with the earth, although i don't have any proof, only logical reasoning.
If you want proof, i can give you proof but that requires you to assume that the sun is far more massive than the earth. for my proof i would tell you to do a simulation, take a basket-ball, make a wire come out from the ball and place a marble on the end. spin the ball and throw it in the air so it spins freely, then observe that the basket-ball does not spin around the marble. that's your proof.
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