No, what I was talking about had to do with centrifugal force counterbalancing gravity
#1 Most importantly!! Centrifugal Force DOES NOT EXIST. IT IS A FICTIONAL FORCE. It is a useful fiction to describe what is observed to be happening in a limited "Frame of Reference".
Newtons First Law states that objects in motion travel in a STRAIGHT LINE unless acted upon by an OUTSIDE FORCE.
Gravitational Force is also a Fictional Force that does not exist BUT as with Centrifugal Force is a convenient fiction to describe what occurs in a limited Frame of Reference.
Finally - The Earth is round. Thus if you travel in a straight line laterally in any direction the surface of the earth will curve AWAY from you (
ROUGHFULLY 8 inches per mile squared). The actual drop can be calculated by spherical trigonometry (
h = r∗(1−cosθ))
OK Fictional Force Centrifugal, travel around a curve in your car and you experience a force pushing you to the outside of the curve, "AHAH tis Centrifugal Force you say". Well not actually - Leave the car's Frame of Reference and look down upon the car from above (Broader Frame of Reference) and you can now see what is actually happening, i.e. : the ball is moving in a straight line (1st Law) while the car is accelerating toward the CENTER of the curve due to
CENTRIPETAL FORCE applied by the tires friction with the road's surface. So the car is curving away from the straight line traveling ball which will roll toward the outside of the curve until striking the door. The door, now in contact with the ball applies a force to push the ball away from its straight path toward the center of the curve.
Now, let's mount a gun so that it fires parallel to the ground's surface (flat for now). As soon as the bullet leaves the barrel it begins to fall towards the earth at an acceleration of 32ft per sec per sec so it (bullet) falls 16ft in one second. In addition to the downward fall it (bullet) is traveling laterally at its muzzle velocity.
So a 6ft tall shooter sees the bullet (ignore air friction) hit the ground 0.6 sec later and assuming a lateral velocity of 1000ft per sec it (bullet) hits the ground at a distance of 600ft. Obviously a faster lateral velocity moves that "hit the ground" distance further away from the shooter - NOW let's consider the Earth's curvature, which is dropping away further and further with distance. IF the bullet falls 16ft in one second and the bullet travels laterally fast enough to cover enough distance so that the Earth's surface has curved away 16ft, the bullet would remain 6ft above the surface and effectively would be IN ORBIT around the Earth.
SO - a Satellite attempts to move in a straight line BUT Gravity applies a force to accelerate it toward the center of the Earth. The CENTRIPETAL FORCE supplied by the Earth's gravitational field (another fiction) produces the curved orbital path as the satellite continually falls toward the earth. The satellite does not hit the ground BECAUSE it (Earth's surface) curves away from it at the same rate as the satellite falls toward it
drgondog
GreenKnight121
GregP @ThomasP
