Educational
Description
Vocal Characteristics
Language
EnglishVoice Age
Middle Aged (35-54)Accents
North American (General) North American (US General American - GenAM) North American (US Midwest- Chicago, Great Lakes)Transcript
Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
one thing to remember about a spacecraft in orbit is that it's not floating up there, it's actually falling. Imagine dropping a baseball the instant you let go, it begins accelerating toward the Earth's center of mass. That's the direction we non physicists call down. Now, imagine tossing the ball to the side. It still drops accelerating down at the same rate. But while it's falling it also moves along the ground in the direction you through it, the harder you throw it, the farther away it lands. If you throw it hard enough to put it into orbit, the ball still accelerates down. But with the curvature of the Earth, the ground drops away from the ball at the same rate that the ball falls. Now you can't do this close to the ground. Air resistance would slow the ball until it's sideways speed. Can't keep up with its falling speed and it will collide with the ground. But above the atmosphere there's nothing to get in the way. That's why for an orbit to be stable, it needs to be above the atmosphere, away from all that pesky air