How Earths gravitational force keeps the
Moon in orbit?
The Earth has a gravitational force on the Moon, and the
Moon has a gravitational pull on the Earth that is equal and
opposing.
The Moon is kept in orbit around us by the gravity of the
Earth. It constantly shifting the Moon's velocity direction.
This means that, despite its constant speed, gravity causes the
Moon to accelerate all the time.
The Moon revolves around the Earth in a circular motion due to
the centripetal gravitational force of the Earth.
The centripetal force acting on the moon tries to move it
outwards and the gravitational force pulls it towards earth .So this
two forces balance the moon to be fixed it on its own circular
orbit and thus the moon moves in a circular motion around the
earth .
The moon is revolving around the earth. In this process the
work done by the gravitational force is zero because the
displacement of the moon is at right angle to the gravitational
force. In this process the work done by the gravitational force
is zero because the displacement of the moon is at right angle
to the gravitational force.
Centripetal force always acts perpendicular to the direction of
motion. Hence no work is done.
Why the moon doesn’t fall into the Earth?
The Earth's and Moon's gravitational pulls are a pair of
Newton's Third Laws.
Newton's First Law of Motion (Inertia) An object at rest
remains at rest, and an object in motion remains in motion at
constant speed and in a straight line unless acted on by an
unbalanced force.
The Earth's gravitational pull is what keeps the Moon from
flying off into space. However, the Moon also has inertia,
which is why it does not fall to Earth.
The moon's velocity and distance from Earth allow it to make
a perfect balance between fall and escape. In case the velocity
of rotation of the moon was a little bit faster, it would have
escaped the Earth's Gravity. On the other hand, if it's a little
bit slower, it would have fallen on Earth.