Skip to content
KinPilot™Learn & Explore
Menu
← TopicsReading path →

Grades K–2 · Earth & Space

Why do planets keep going around the Sun?

Earth is a planet moving around the Sun. The Sun’s gravity pulls Earth toward it. Gravity is a pull between objects, even when they are not touching.

Z001 visual explanationSideways motion and a pull shape the path; Sun; movement; gravity inward; one example orbit; No string or road; sizes, spacing and the circular path are simplified.Sideways motion and a pull shape the pathSunmovementgravity inwardone example orbitNo string or road; sizes, spacing and the circular path are simplified.

In the diagramSideways motion and a pull shape the pathSunmovementgravity inwardone example orbitNo string or road; sizes, spacing and the circular path are simplified.

A planet moves along an example curved orbit while gravity points toward the Sun. The motion arrow and pull arrow show different directions, not two roads.

Earth is also already moving sideways. The pull keeps changing the direction of that movement. Instead of going straight ahead into space, Earth follows a curving path around the Sun.

That path is an orbit. There is no string tying Earth to the Sun and no road holding it up. A planet’s movement and the pull of gravity work together to shape its path.

About this explanation

Starting knowledge: Recognize the Sun and a planet, and distinguish a straight path from a curved one.

Sources

  • NASA — Planetary Systems
← Grades K–2 topics