Eli5: How do satellites stay in orbit, and don’t gravity pull them to the surface?
In: Earth Science
Imagine a ball attached to the end of a rubber band. Now swing that ball around. Keep it moving fast enough and it will spin in a circle. The rubber band is always trying to pull the ball to your hand, but the ball is moving too fast for it to fall. It keeps “missing” your hand instead of getting pulled right back to it, but it’s still tethered so it’s not flying away. Slow that spin down and the ball is pulled back to your hand. Let go of the rubber band and it flies off in the last direction you were spinning it.
Same with a satellite. Gravity is like the rubber band, and the satellite is the ball, and your hand is the Earth. The satellite is moving fast enough that even though gravity is trying to pull it back to Earth, out keeps missing and spinning merrily along. If the satellite stopped moving, gravity would pull it back towards the Earth. If the Earth didn’t affect the satellite (ie there’s nobody holding onto the rubber band), it would fly off into space.
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