Q5 of 81 Page 223

The earth resolves round the sun because the sun attract the earth. The sun also attracts the moon and this force is about twice as large as the attraction of the earth on the moon. Why does the moon not resolve round the sun? Or does it?

The moon revolves around the earth, while the “earth-moon” system revolves around the sun. The sun’s gravitational force is balanced by the centripetal force on the system. The Earth’s gravitational force is balanced by the centripetal force of the moon around the earth.


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3

If heavier bodies are attracted more strongly by the earth, why don’t they fall faster that the lighter bodies?

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Can you think of two particles which do not exert gravitational force on each other?

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At noon, the sun and earth pull the objects on the earth’s surface in opposite directions. At midnight, the sun and the earth’s pull these objects in same direction. Is the weight of an objects, as measured by a spring balance on the earth’s surface, more at midnight as compared to its weight at noon?

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An apple falls from a tree. An insect in the apple finds that the earth is falling towards it with an acceleration g. Who exerts the force needed to accelerate the earth with this acceleration g?