Originally posted by Gallstaff@Sep. 11 2002, 11:30 pm
I can imagine it now... *walkin down the street whistiling* Do do do ... WTF?!?! *flaming coke comes down and hit syou in the face* "this is important... this means something." *is followed by mountain dew can*
Well, let's look at it this way.
Once it's caught in the Earth's gravity field, ie rotating about it, very little can be done to take it off it's path, especially given how small the items are.
Every item produces gravity. The faster it is moving, the more gravity it produces. Ie, when a car drives by you at a high speed, you may feel a pull after it drives by. That's gravity.
And with the example of the coke can, if it were to somehow reenter the earth's atmosphere, it'd burn up before it got to earth.
And finally, the junk that is floating out there is actually wrenches, nuts/bolts, various other tools and parts that have fallen off space ships and satellites. Because those space suits are incredibly thick, astronauts are prone to 'dropping' stuff all the time. Why not chase that stuff? Well, if they did, there is no guarantee they can get back the space craft, since there'd be nothing to push off of to go in the opposite direction, and there is no friction to slow him/her/it down.
Mr. Bean addresses this, I believe. (yes, Mr. Bean)
As far as the horseshoe shape goes, no, it's alright, since earth's and the moon's gravity is acting like a slingshot around each other.
