Why do planets circle the Sun

All the planets, including the Earth, revolve around the Sun. Some have more or less circular paths whereas others have elliptical orbits of varying eccentricities. The force conducting the planetary motion is that of gravitation exerted by what is by far the heaviest entity in the Solar System – the Sun.

Heavy objects attract lighter objects by exerting gravitational pull. This is the explanation to the fact that everything that we throw up with slight force comes down when the upward thrust of the applied force dies out. It is natural for a valid question to follow. Why do these planets not end up crashing into the Sun? This makes the introduction of a very simple activity necessary. We observe that upon tying a small pebble at the end of a string, initiating the motion of the system by first exerting a sideward tug at the stone and then pulling the other end of the string towards ourselves, the stone keeps on completing well defined circles. The physics replicates itself, though at a much colossal scale, in the solar space. The Sun plays the role of the central force and the planets enact the small stone. The sideways motion of the planets complements the massive attractive pull of the Sun, and the two forces combine to result in the revolution of the planets around the Sun. Imagining a hypothetical situation where the Sun blows off and so does its attractive gravitational pull, the planets would be free of the orbital motion and would continue in a straight line from the point they were on during the last second of the Sun’s existence.

Again, considering a fictitious scenario where there is no sideways motion of the planets, they would suffer a disastrous fate by banging right into the infernal heat of the Sun! Sir Isaac Newton, the legendary scientist of the yester years was the first person to suggest the right reasons behind the rotation of the planets around the Sun. The scholars and researchers of the periods that followed build thorough theories based on his tenets.