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As sun have a huge amount of attraction pull force , why its not able to pull tiny mercury?

Is the whole solar system works in a push and pull network?

Why bigger planets like earth, Saturn and Jupiter with more gravitational force are not attracting smaller planets laying before and after them ?

Update As per the answers sun have a push and pull nature .

So mercury is able to revolve faster and it is able to overcome suns pull and stay on orbit .But sun still able to pull other bigger planets like Jupiter and keep it in orbit. All the planets are on orbit due to suns force too . Is it?

Earth ,Jupiter are able to stay on orbit by their force but they still don't attract other smaller planets. Finally , the gravity itself have distance limit , is it? after a certain distance it dont work so how it affect others !!!

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    $\begingroup$ These interactions do happen. It's just that space is really, really, really, really, really, really big. $\endgroup$
    – HDE 226868
    Nov 30, 2015 at 22:52
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    $\begingroup$ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbit#Understanding_orbits $\endgroup$
    – Solomon Slow
    Dec 1, 2015 at 4:32
  • $\begingroup$ @HDE226868 that space is really really big , but we still saying the force exist between them . but not that powerful to pull closer ..but powerful enough to keep it on the orbit. ok ..whatever $\endgroup$
    – zod
    Dec 1, 2015 at 17:10
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    $\begingroup$ scalesolarsystem.66ghz.com/index.html have a look at it...you will find out how big the space is...also, the orbital speeds are given...compare them from planet to planet. $\endgroup$
    – manshu
    Dec 1, 2015 at 18:19
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    $\begingroup$ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_resonance $\endgroup$
    – manshu
    Dec 1, 2015 at 18:30

2 Answers 2

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The Sun is pulling Mercury.

If the Sun were not pulling Mercury, it would go out of the Solar system in a straight line.

It's a balancing act between the Sun's pull inwards and Mercury's tangential speed. It just so happens that the Sun's pull and Mercury's speed balance out just right to keep Mercury in a stable orbit. Actually, it's a bit more complicated, which is why Mercury's elliptical orbit itself rotates a bit, but those are details...

The way these things work out is that if the Sun were stronger, it would pull Mercury closer, but it would still stabilize in a closer orbit, up to a point. If the Sun were stronger still, Mercury would spiral inwards.

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  • $\begingroup$ What do you mean by "If the Sun were stronger", more massive? If that is the case and it would happen instantaneous, then the orbit of the planets would become more elliptical, such that they would always (roughly) go back to the point at which the sun got heavier, but their semi-major axis would become smaller. And what causes Mercury to spiral inwards if the Sun were even stronger; gravity waves? $\endgroup$
    – fibonatic
    Dec 1, 2015 at 8:54
  • $\begingroup$ I that case I think it is wrong (or at least a bad approximation) to still think about it as a gravitational force. $\endgroup$
    – fibonatic
    Dec 1, 2015 at 9:23
  • $\begingroup$ Why would it spiral inwards? I think referring to GR is just confusing when the OP seems to misunderstand concepts on a far more basic level. $\endgroup$
    – gerrit
    Dec 1, 2015 at 10:22
  • $\begingroup$ @gerrit true ,that i dont understand the basics. i am simply trying to understand in a common mans way. Mercury is small and gravity is related to its mass.mercury is still be able stay on orbit. Jupiter, Saturn are so big and far and still on the orbit. other planets like uranus , plut much more far and much more smaller still stays on orbit. why? $\endgroup$
    – zod
    Dec 1, 2015 at 17:18
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The sun does pull Mercury, that's why its orbits the sun.

Internally the sun does work in a push and pull network called a hydrostatic equilibrium.

The larger planets do attract smaller things and have helped clear the way for Earth and other inner planets.

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