eli5: I’ve heard orbit described as continuously falling past or missing the Earth, how then do objects in geosynchronous orbit above a single point not fall out of the sky?

Question

eli5: I’ve heard orbit described as continuously falling past or missing the Earth, how then do objects in geosynchronous orbit above a single point not fall out of the sky?

In: 2204

Answer 1

Because the earth turns. The object is exactly as far from the earth as it needs to be to match the (relative) speed in relation to earth’s rotation and maintain a stable orbit at that speed.