Q5 of 38 Page 57

Both earth and moon are subject to the gravitational force of the sun. As observed from the sun, the orbit of the moon

The gravitational force of attraction due to earth on the moon follow the inverse square law due to which the as seen from the earth, the moon revolves around it in circular orbit.


When observed from the sun, moon experiences the gravitational pull due to both, the sun and the moon which results in a net force thus changing the trajectory of moon, and hence it does not revolve in strictly elliptical due to influence of both sun and earth.

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Different points in earth are at slightly different distances from the sun and hence experience different forces due to gravitation. For a rigid body, we know that if various forces act at various points in it, the resultant motion is as if a net force acts on the c.m. (centre of mass) causing translation and a net torque at the c.m. causing rotation around an axis through the c.m. For the earth - sun system (approximating the earth as a uniform density sphere)

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Satellites orbiting the earth have finite life and sometimes debris of satellites fall to the earth. This is because,

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In our solar system, the inter - planetary region has chunks of matter (much smaller in size compared to planets) called asteroids. They

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