Question

How is the Earth able to stay at approximately the same distance from the Sun (1 AU) despite the fact that the Sun exerts a gravitational pull on the Earth?

Answer 1

Answer:

This is the same as if you have a weight on the end of a string and swing it around. You are constantly pulling it toward you, but the motion sideways keeps it swinging around. Like the string, the Sun’s gravity pulls on the planets, but the planets have enough sideways motion to keep them in their orbits (Tangential velocity). Without that sideways motion, it would fall to the center; and without the pull toward the center, it would go flying off in a straight line.

The Sun is more than 300,000 times heavier than Earth, distance of the Earth to Sun is about 1.50 x ¹⁰¹¹ m, and the force of attraction between the Sun and Earth is about F = 3.52 x 10²² N.