Question

a college student has been assigned to write captions for a new textbook on gravity and motion. this is one of the pictures from the textbook. which caption best describes the dotted - line arrow? the moon moves toward the sun due to gravity. the moon will move away from earth because of inertia. the moon would move in a circular path if there were no forces. the moon would not stay in orbit without the pull of earths gravity.

Explanation:

• The first option is incorrect because the dotted - line arrow is not related to the Sun's gravity acting on the Moon.
• The second option is wrong. Inertia would make the Moon move in a straight - line path (not just away from Earth in a non - straight sense as described here).
• The third option is incorrect. According to Newton's first law, if there were no forces, the Moon would move in a straight - line path, not a circular path.
• The fourth option is correct. The Earth's gravity provides the centripetal force that keeps the Moon in orbit. Without this gravitational pull (as the dotted - line arrow might be hinting at the absence of the normal orbital - keeping force), the Moon would not stay in its orbit around the Earth.

Answer:

The moon would not stay in orbit without the pull of Earth’s gravity.