Two friends are having a conversation. anna says a satellite in orbit is in freefall because the satellite keeps falling toward earth. tom says a satellite in orbit is not in freefall because the acceleration due to gravity is not 9.80 m/2 . who do you agree with and why?

free fall is any motion of a body where its weight is the only force acting upon it. In the context of general relativity, where gravitation is reduced to a space-time curvature, a body in free fall has no force acting on it and it moves along a geodesic.As the only force acting on the orbiter is the force of gravity from the Earth, it is in free fall. Note the definition does not specify that the free fall must be directly at the source of gravity, only that the force (weight) is the only force. Anna is right but not because the satellite keeps falling toward the Earth. It's because the gravity force is the only force acting on the satellite. I must add: gravity force is the only applied force, there is also centrifugal force. But that's a reaction force, not an applied force.

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hope this !