An orange falls off of a tree. Gravity is pulling the orange in which direction? (1 point)
• toward the atmosphere of Earth
• toward the middle of the tree
• toward the center of Earth
• toward the nearest branch
The orange is being pulled toward the center of Earth by gravity.
What prevents the planets in our solar system from floating away? (1 point)
COURSE TOOLS
O Earth's gravitational pull
O planets' gravitational pull on one another
O moon's gravitational pull
• Sun's gravitational pull
The Sun's gravitational pull prevents the planets in our solar system from floating away.
Gravity is pulling the orange toward the center of the Earth.
Gravity is pulling the orange toward the center of the Earth. To understand this, we can refer to Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation. According to this law, any two objects with mass will experience a gravitational force of attraction between them. The magnitude of this force is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers.
In the case of an orange falling off a tree, the orange and the Earth are the two objects involved. The Earth is much larger and has a significantly greater mass compared to the orange. Therefore, the orange experiences a gravitational force toward the center of the Earth. This force causes the orange to accelerate downward, leading to its fall.