How did Newton explain why the Moon did not fall to Earth?
The moon is actually falling toward Earth but has great enough tangential velocity to avoid hitting Earth. Newton realized that if the moon did not fall, it would move off in a straight line and leave its orbit. His idea was that the moon must be falling around Earth.
How did Newton explain what the Moon is doing and what did his explanation have to do with the apple falling?
Scientists in Newton’s day didn’t understand gravity very well. They explained that apples fell down because they were “earthy” things and their “natural home” was down on Earth. The moon and planets floated in the sky because they were “space” things and liked to stay in space. Newton liked things to be simple.
Why did Newton think the Moon was falling?
NEWTON REALIZES THE MOON IS FALLING Newton thought about motion and its causes. He realized what Galileo taught: an object tends to stay in motion (moving in the same speed and direction) unless a force acts on it.
Why does the Moon never crash into the Earth?
The gravitational force on one object in the interaction always is in the direction of the other object. In other words, the gravitational force is an attractive force. There are lots of other cool things about gravity, but this will be enough to get us started.
How did Isaac Newton come up with his theory of gravitation?
Newton concluded that the moon did feel the effect of the Earth’s attractive force and that it was indeed falling towards Earth, but there was a very good reason why it didn’t crash down. He used a thought experiment to explain his thinking: imagine you fired a cannonball horizontally from the top of a mountain on Earth.
Why did Sir Isaac Newton believe that the planets move in ellipses?
But the planets move in ellipses, not straight lines; therefore, some force must be bending their paths. That force, Newton proposed, was gravity. In Newton’s time, gravity was something associated with Earth alone. Everyday experience shows us that Earth exerts a gravitational force upon objects at its surface.