conrad Posted October 15, 2005 Share Posted October 15, 2005 me and my dad recently got into a heated debated on wether gravity or centrifugal force holds the earth to the sun(or a solar system or a galaxy or a universe). i said that gravity was the major factor, but centrifugal force is a very small factor. he said that centrifugal force is the major factor and gravity is a almost non existent factor. am i wrong?! he felt like i was being sooo stupid with my idea and i vice versa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qrasy Posted October 15, 2005 Share Posted October 15, 2005 I think in average balances each other in the rotating frame of earth and sun, otherwise will the distance between Earth and Sun will not be constant over years. In every season we can feel the change of the distance between Earth and Sun, though its only minor change (small compared to average distance), so one time Gravitational force is larger, another time the Centrifugal is. Remember that Centrifugal "force" is only pseduForce/fictional force. Pseudoforce is caused by accelerated movement of the system (an example: you can feel some "force" when you are in a car when it starts to go or stops). The velocity of Earth is clearly not constant, as it turns its direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phi for All Posted October 15, 2005 Share Posted October 15, 2005 Here is a link to a thread that mey help. You can also use your Search tool for more on centrifugal force and gravity questions. http://www.scienceforums.net/forums/showthread.php?t=13501&highlight=centrifugal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qrasy Posted October 15, 2005 Share Posted October 15, 2005 By the way the topic there is about centrifugal force on the body on earth due to the rotation of earth, not the centrifugal force on Earth due to the rotation of earth-sun frame (revolution of earth). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insane_alien Posted October 15, 2005 Share Posted October 15, 2005 gravity is the centripetal force in this case. as the earth wants to move in a straight line it needs a force acting on it to hold it in orbit around the sun. the only force that could be doing this is gravity as the earth and sun are not charged and the magnetic fields are negligible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaynos Posted October 15, 2005 Share Posted October 15, 2005 Firstly, there is no such thing as a centralfugal force, it's a psydo force... Secondly read what insane_alien said... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insane_alien Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 WOOHOO! i got refered to! BOOYAH! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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