Chapter 13, Problem 34A

If the gravitational forces of the sun on the planets suddenly disappeared, in what kind of paths would the planets move?

To determine

The kind of paths used by planets to move.

Explanation of Solution

Introduction:

The force of gravity is the attractive force between any two bodies that are having mass. This force is always attractive because it continuously attempts to pull the bodies together and never tries to push them away from each other. The force of gravity is one of the fundamental forces in nature which is responsible for the interactions among the objects in nature. This is the weakest among the four fundamental forces in nature − Strong nuclear force, Electromagnetic force, weak nuclear force and gravitational force.

If the gravitational forces of the sun on the planets suddenly disappeared, the planets would continue to move with the velocity which they had at that time. This is in accordance with the Newton’s first law of motion which states that if there is no external force acting on an object, the object remains in its state of motion with the same speed and direction. In this case, the planets would continue to move in a straight-line path that is tangent to their orbit around the sun, at a continuous speed.