eli5 : How does the earth not collide with the sun when orbiting

Question

eli5 : How does the earth not collide with the sun when orbiting

In: 0

Answer 1

Because it is moving really, really, really fast.

Yeah, if the Earth were created, and just dropped with no speed, it would fall into the Sun. But the Earth is moving relative to the Sun, at a speed of ~30 km/second. That is enough that even though it’s falling towards the sun, it always misses.