The Earth’s gravity is strong enough to keep The Moon, an immense celestial body, from flying off into space. It is also weak enough to allow us to jump and throw things in the air. How does this work?

Question

Similarly, why does The Moon’s gravity affect the tides but won’t, for example, cause a paperclip to slide across a desk?

In: Physics

Answer 1

So gravity is not a force working on you, it is a force created by all objects. It binds us together (like…well…”the force”). You are pulling on the earth just like the Earth is pulling on you, but your mass is so much smaller that your gravity doesn’t do much to the earth. The sad fact is that, while it is a big part of our life, gravity just isn’t that strong. You can overcome the gravity between you and the earth to move yourself away, but not so far that the Earth’s gravity won’t pull you back, but that doesn’t mean it’s super strong; tiny little birds are able to constantly push against Earth’s gravity by pushing on the air.

The Moon is a whole different beast because now it has enough mass to have measurable gravity of its own so it is actually pulling on the Earth, JUST like the Earth is pulling on the Moon, less because the moon is smaller. If the Moon had no gravity, you are absolutely right that it would just fly off, but the Moon is also holding onto the Earth, so much so that it actually causes the Earth to wobble! https://images.app.goo.gl/C7z1vCNXbeReiMZr6