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Question: What would happen if no centrifugal and centripetal was their in between moon and earth?

(Posted by: evil on 2010-01-30 06:14:26)

I m little bit confused that moon will start moving in the tagential direction or it will collide with earth...

Posted by: Anita Mallya on 2010-01-30, 06:23:39

Most planets or satellites wont be in their orbit if there were no such forces.

Posted by: ROBERT on 2010-01-30, 06:23:31

I thought I had a short and quick answer but realize that I do not. If you remove angular momentum then I would think that the moon would fly off into outer space.

Posted by: ajay on 2010-01-30, 06:30:04

Tie a coin at one end of a thread , and rotating it with your hand as centre. The centrifugal force helps the coin in giving enough tension to thread so it remains straight. The centripetal force has some what balancing effect. In the case of moon or other heavenly bodies these forces help them maintain their orbit.