How does the earth orbit the sun?

Answer 1

Actually the Earth doesn't orbit the Sun.

In reality no two bodies orbit each other. They actually orbit the centre of mass of the system which is called the barycentre.

The Earth and Moon both orbit about their centre of mass called the Earth-Moon barycentre.

In the case of the solar system, the Sun and all of the planets and other bodies always orbit around the Solar System Barycentre (SSB).

So, the focus of the Earth's orbit is the SSB which is in constant motion.

The position of the SSB is constantly changing. It can be anywhere between the centre of the Sun and two solar radii from the centre of the Sun. This depends on the relative positions of the planets and other bodies.

The diagram shows the position of the SSB over a period of decades.

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Answer 2

Nova Adams

Because of Newton's first law of physics.

A body in motion tends to stay in motion and in a straight line unless acted upon by outside forces, and in the case of the earth, that outside force is the sun's gravity, which constantly pulls the planet away from its straight line desires and into the familiar curving motion. This is Newton's first law of physics.

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Answer 3

Alexander Acosta

Because of the Sun's gravitational pull, the Earth orbits it in an elliptical path according to Newton's law of universal gravitation, which states that all particles in the universe are attracted to all other particles with a force that is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers and directly proportional to the product of their masses.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.