• Question: hOW DOES THE SOLER SYSTEM WORK

    Asked by Kat ;) to Jim on 7 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Jim Barrett

      Jim Barrett answered on 7 Mar 2016:

      The solar system works because of gravity, which is basically the rule that heavy things are attracted to each other.

      The sun is really heavy, and the planets are quite heavy too, so they like to move towards one another. However, since the planets are moving really quickly, they actually end up going around the sun in circles.

      Interestingly though, our solar system actually doesn’t work that well, and will probably break and everything will fly off into space. Luckily, this will happen a looooooooooong time after all the humans are gone

Comments

  • Photo: Scott

    Scott commented on :

    I found learning about the solar system to be the most interesting part at university. The sun and all the planets came from a big ball of gas, just floating about in space. Nothing more interesting than that! Because of gravity, though, that gas all fell down to the middle, got hot and made the sun. Everything else left over made planets. Amazing that gas + gravity = solar system!

  • Photo: Adrian

    Adrian commented on :

    Understanding about the solar system back in school is what motivated me to love physics. The movements of the Earth create the day/night oscillations or the seasons. The solar system works thanks to one force discovered by Isaac Newton. It’s called the force of gravity. Due to this force, any two bodies attract each other.