3 ms·

My favorite gravity explanation video: https://youtu.be/wrwgIjBUYVc https://youtu.be/wrwgIjBUYVc

• anotheryou 6y ago
  Also good :) With a slingshot maneuver, why does the the direction of the inertia change though? If you zoom out far enough the lines are mostly parallel with a "dip" where there as mass. Why can an object enter parallel to a line, be dragged with the line towards the mass, miss it and exit on a path not aligned with a line? https://i.imgur.com/qj8fafd.png https://i.imgur.com/qj8fafd.png
  • OnlyOneCannolo 6y ago
    That's a screenshot of an animation where the grid is moving. The lines don't capture the object. They just nudge it a bit. Kind of like a ball rolling across a treadmill. Also that image doesn't show the slight twist in the grid caused by the earth's rotation. Another part of the video does though.
  • lxmorj 6y ago
    You can only slingshot in a direction another body is orbiting (to gain velocity). You're harvesting it's momentum, basically!
    • lxmorj 6y ago
      The more I try to read about this the more unsure I am I truly understand it, so perhaps not...
    • anotheryou 6y ago
      Not sure if the term itself restricts it to an accelerating maneuver, but of course you can do the reverse and slow down.