eli5 Does gravity act the same for large objects as it does for small objects. So if I were to shrink planet Earth and the moon to say half the size and the distance between them too then would they continue orbiting. Would this also apply if they somehow became much larger?

Question

eli5 Does gravity act the same for large objects as it does for small objects. So if I were to shrink planet Earth and the moon to say half the size and the distance between them too then would they continue orbiting. Would this also apply if they somehow became much larger?

In: 9

Answer 1

If you look at the equation for calculating the gravitational attraction between two bodies, it depends only on the two masses and the distance between them. The sun could be ten times its current size or could be collapsed into a black hole, and we would orbit it just the same.

We might be personally more or less happy with the living conditions, but a year would still be 365 and a bit days.