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Question
- how would earths position in the solar system change if the sun had no gravity?
The Sun's gravity currently provides the centripetal force that keeps Earth in its stable, nearly circular orbital path around the Sun. Without this gravitational pull, Earth would no longer be constrained to its orbit. By Newton's first law of motion, an object in motion will stay in motion with a constant velocity (same speed and direction) unless acted on by an unbalanced force. Earth would continue moving in a straight line tangent to its last orbital position, drifting away into interstellar space.
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Earth would stop orbiting the Sun and travel in a straight, tangent path away from its current orbital position, drifting into interstellar space indefinitely.