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Newton explains orbit

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Newton explains how increasing a ball’s sideways speed causes it to orbit Earth, as gravity keeps pulling it around rather than letting it fall straight down.

Imagine a cannon on a mountain above the atmosphere. A ball fired slowly falls nearby. Fire it faster, and it lands farther away. At the right speed, the ground curves away beneath the falling ball, so it travels around Earth. Gravity has not stopped acting. The ball is falling throughout its orbit. Now ask yourself: what changes when we increase its sideways speed?

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