Thread: Force of the Sun and Earth

Hi, I am a student and I have a question about Earth.
I calculated the force due to Earth's acceleration and calculated the gravitational pull of the sun. I found that the force due to Earth's acceleration is greater than the sun's gravitational pull, which would mean that earth would have to slowly be moving away from the sun.
Does anyone know if this is right and if so how many meters a year does it move away from the sun?
Thank you

Originally Posted by skittleme1

Hi, I am a student and I have a question about Earth.
I calculated the force due to Earth's acceleration and calculated the gravitational pull of the sun. I found that the force due to Earth's acceleration is greater than the sun's gravitational pull, which would mean that earth would have to slowly be moving away from the sun.
Does anyone know if this is right and if so how many meters a year does it move away from the sun?
Thank you

How did you calculate both and how much of a difference did you find? If you calculate the average acceleration of the Earth and the average gravitational pull of the Sun, you should get the same answer (within the the limits of the values used.)

You're right, I found my mistake- I had dropped a zero in my calculations
Thank you!