# What would happen to the Moon if the Earth stopped providing it with a centripetal force owing to its force of gravity?

Would the Moon really only travel in a straight line then? What about the other planets and their forces of gravity? Wouldn't they prevent this rectilinear and undisturbed motion of the Moon?

• There is no such thing as a centripetal force. There is something called centripetal acceleration, which just describes a very specific type of acceleration, namely that of circular curves. The only macroscopic forces present in the Earth-moon system are gravity, radiation pressure (very weak), and particle pressure (almost non-existent from dust and solar wind particles). – honeste_vivere Jul 25 '18 at 14:07

$2\pi \times 150 \times 10^6 \text{ km} / 365 \text{ days} = 2.6 \times 10^6 \text{ km}/\text{day}$
$2\pi \times 385 \times 10^3 \text{ km} / 29 \text{ days} = 83 \times 10^3 \text{ km}/\text{day}$
The motion around the Sun is a factor of $30$ faster; the Moon's motion around the Earth is just a small perturbation on that.