When the Earth is moving away from the sun it begins to slow down, why is that?
The Earth does not actually slow down when moving away from the Sun in its orbit. Its orbital speed remains relatively constant throughout its elliptical path. However, the perception that the Earth may be slowing down in its orbit is due to the change in its distance from the Sun.
According to Kepler's laws, planets move in elliptical orbits around the Sun, with the Sun located at one of the foci of the ellipse. This means that as the Earth moves further away from the Sun, its distance from the Sun increases. As a result, it takes a slightly longer time for the Earth to complete one full orbit around the Sun.
This change in distance causes a perceived slowing down of the Earth's motion from our perspective on Earth. However, it is important to note that this apparent change in speed is only relative to the changing distance from the Sun, and the Earth's actual speed remains constant.
When the Earth is moving away from the sun, it does not actually slow down. In fact, the Earth's orbital speed remains relatively constant throughout its orbit around the sun. The Earth's orbit is shaped like an ellipse, with the sun located at one of the two foci. This means that the Earth is closer to the sun during one part of its orbit and farther away during another part.
The phenomenon you may be referring to is the perception that the Earth is moving slower when it is farther away from the sun. This perception is caused by the fact that the Earth takes longer to complete its orbit when it is farther away from the sun. As a result, the time it takes for the Earth to travel from one point in its orbit to another appears longer, giving the appearance of a slower motion.
However, it is important to understand that the Earth's actual speed does not change as it moves away from the sun. The gravitational force between the Earth and the sun keeps the Earth in its orbit, and the Earth maintains a relatively constant orbital speed throughout its journey.
When the Earth is moving away from the sun in its orbit, it does not actually slow down, but rather the speed of its orbital motion decreases. This is because of the conservation of angular momentum, which states that the product of an object's rotational inertia and its rotational speed remains constant if no external torques act upon it.
To understand why this occurs, we need to consider the gravitational force between the Earth and the sun. According to Newton's law of universal gravitation, the force of gravity between two objects is directly proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers.
As the Earth moves away from the sun, the distance between them increases, causing the gravitational force between them to decrease. Since gravity is the centripetal force that keeps the Earth in its orbit, a decrease in this force means that the centripetal force becomes weaker. To maintain equilibrium, the Earth must adjust its motion according to the decreased force.
To do this, the Earth slows down in its orbital speed. By reducing its speed, the Earth experiences a weaker centrifugal force, which balances the decreasing centripetal force caused by the reduced gravity. This adjustment in speed allows the Earth to remain in a stable orbit as it moves away from the sun.
It is important to note that although the Earth's orbital speed decreases as it moves away from the sun, the period of its orbit (the time it takes to complete one revolution around the sun) remains relatively constant. This means that the Earth's distance from the sun affects its speed, but not the time it takes to complete an orbit.