Another great example is how insanely hard it actually is to hurl something into the sun. Intuitively, people think gravity does the work. Like the escape pod, you should be able to just point at the sun and go.
But the moment you escape Earth’s gravity well, you’re still going almost (or more than) the speed of Earth. You’re now orbitting the sun by yourself. The only way to reach the sun is to slow down and lose all of that orbital velocity. It’s significantly easier to escape the sun than it is to actually touch it.
Love the write up!
Another great example is how insanely hard it actually is to hurl something into the sun. Intuitively, people think gravity does the work. Like the escape pod, you should be able to just point at the sun and go.
But the moment you escape Earth’s gravity well, you’re still going almost (or more than) the speed of Earth. You’re now orbitting the sun by yourself. The only way to reach the sun is to slow down and lose all of that orbital velocity. It’s significantly easier to escape the sun than it is to actually touch it.