When the moon orbits earth what is the centripetal force

Gravity

Explanation:

Any two objects will attract one another gravitationally with a force given by Newton's equation:

F

=

G

m

1

m

2

r

2

where:

G

is the universal gravitational constant, usually referred to as "big G".

m

1

and  

m

2

are the masses of the objects.

r

is the distance between the centres of mass of the two objects.

Notice that the gravitational force decreases in inverse proportion to the square of the distance between the objects.

If there were no force of gravity then the moon would tend to travel in a straight line. With gravity providing a centripetal force, that path is curved towards the Earth, resulting in a roughly circular orbit. In essence the moon is in continuous freefall towards the Earth.

Actually the moon and the Earth orbit around a centre which lies between the centre of the Earth and that of the moon. However, since the Earth is much more massive than the moon, that centre lies within the Earth (at a distance of  4670  km or so from the centre of the Earth).

1 a

2 b

3 b

4 d

5 d

6 d

explanation:

nah.   i'm just sleepy.