Random Learning of the Week

... Courtesy of my Physics 10 class.

Gravity is why an apple falls to the floor, and interestingly, it is also the same wonderful reason why our moon revolves around our Earth.

First, let us take into consideration our apple. Drop an apple in Antarctica, it will fall plop on the snow. (or smack on the ice, depending where you drop it.) Drop an apple somewhere near the equator, say Ecuador, or even Manila. It will still fall toward the floor, not straight down into space. The basic rule is, everything that is more or less near the Earth's surface is attracted to the core of the Earth, and as it falls, it exerts force on the Earth as much as the Earth exerts force on it.

And what of our Moon?

In truth, our Moon is constantly falling toward to the Earth. Everything is naturally attracted to the core of the Earth, right? Thing is, the reason why it keeps goin' round our precious little pebble instead of the ... um, moon falling down on our heads is it is constantly accelerated. It gets constantly sped up, and at the same time is drawn to the Earth. Thus, orbit.

Interesting, really, once you think about it.