The solar system works primarily through the force of gravity. The Sun, being the most massive object, sits at the center and its strong gravitational pull keeps all the planets in orbit around it. These planets move in predictable elliptical paths, held in balance by their forward motion shown in green, and the Sun's gravity shown in red. This creates a stable system where planets neither fly off into space nor fall into the Sun. The same principle applies to moons orbiting planets and other objects in our solar system.
Johannes Kepler discovered three fundamental laws that describe planetary motion. First, planets move in elliptical orbits with the Sun at one focus, not at the center. Second, planets sweep out equal areas in equal times, meaning they move faster when closer to the Sun and slower when farther away. This is shown by these triangular areas, which are all equal despite covering different arc lengths. Third, the square of a planet's orbital period is proportional to the cube of its semi-major axis, which explains why outer planets take much longer to orbit the Sun.
Our solar system has a clear structure. At the center is the Sun, containing 99.8% of the system's mass. The inner planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars - are relatively small and rocky. Between Mars and Jupiter lies the asteroid belt, a region of rocky debris. The outer planets - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune - are much larger gas giants. Beyond Neptune, we find the Kuiper Belt, home to dwarf planets like Pluto and numerous icy objects. Finally, surrounding the entire system is the Oort Cloud, a vast spherical shell of icy bodies that marks the outer boundary of our solar system.
Gravity is the fundamental force that holds our solar system together. According to Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation, every mass attracts every other mass with a force proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. This is expressed by the formula F equals G times m1 times m2 divided by r squared, where G is the gravitational constant. The inverse square relationship means that as distance increases, the gravitational force decreases dramatically. For example, doubling the distance reduces the force to one-fourth, and tripling the distance reduces it to one-ninth. This explains why planets closer to the Sun experience stronger gravitational pull and orbit faster than those farther away.
To summarize how our solar system works: The Sun's gravity is the central force that holds everything together. Planets move in elliptical orbits following Kepler's laws, with the Sun at one focus of the ellipse. As planets orbit, they sweep out equal areas in equal times, moving faster when closer to the Sun and slower when farther away. Our solar system has a clear structure with inner rocky planets, the asteroid belt, outer gas giants, and distant icy bodies. The gravitational force follows the inverse square law, which explains why Mercury orbits much faster than Jupiter. This balanced system of gravitational forces and orbital motions has remained stable for billions of years, allowing life to develop on Earth.