 |
Ask A Scientist©
Astronomy Archive
|
 |
Earth-Moon System
>
> > name emily
> > status student
> > age 9
>
> > Question - Why does the moon rotate around the earth? Why doesn't the
>
> > earth rotate around the moon? Wouldn't it get the same results?
>
>Both the earth and the moon rotate around the center of mass of the
>earth-moon system. This is located inside the earth, because the earth is
>so much more massive than the moon.
Barrans
=========================================================
>Emily,
>
>In your science class you probably learned that the earth revolves around
>the sun. That is because the sun is much larger and we are held in place
>through attraction to the sun. In the same way, the moon is much smaller
>than the earth. The moon is held in place due to the gravitational pull of
>the earth. Another way to say this is that the moon is not mass ive enough
>to make the earth rotate around it, the opposite is true.
>
>Your question is similar to asking why a dogs tail does not wag the dog.
>You know, of course, that the dog wags the tail. :)
>
>
> Thanks for using NEWTON!!
>
> Ric Rupnik----------
=========================================================
>The Earth and the moon orbit each other. More precisely, they both
>orbit the center of mass of the earth-moon system. Since the earth is
>much more massive than the moon, the center of mass is much nearer the
>earth.
>
>Tim Mooney
=========================================================
>The moon seems to rotate about us, because we are the ones doing the looking.
>if you were standing on the moon, yes it would seem like the earth is rotating
>about the moon. But if you were standing somewhere else, say on the sun, it
>would seem like both the earth AND the moon are rotating around the sun, and
>also more or less around each other, like two people doing a dance, holding on
>to each other, while they both danced around the entire dance floor.
S. Ross
=========================================================
NEWTON is an electronic community for
Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators.
Argonne National Laboratory, Division of Educational Programs, Harold Myron, Ph.
D., Division Director.