TIL that it takes less energy to launch something out of the solar system than directly into the sun. Apparently its because the massive gravity of the Sun causes objects to orbit instead of pulling objects into itself. Why?

Question

TIL that it takes less energy to launch something out of the solar system than directly into the sun. Apparently its because the massive gravity of the Sun causes objects to orbit instead of pulling objects into itself. Why?

In: Physics

Answer 1

Let’s say you’re Inn a car driving down the highway. That car is the earth. If you try to throw something straight out the window it will keep moving at the same speed as the car. Since the earth is orbiting around the sun, anything we throw off the earth will also start orbiting the sun. We would need to first launch it fast enough to cancel out how fast the earth is going.