Final answer:
Gravity is the force that influences our solar system by holding celestial bodies in their orbits, determining their speeds, and affecting the motion and stability of objects within the system.
Step-by-step explanation:
Gravity plays a crucial role in influencing our solar system. It is the force that holds celestial bodies like planets, moons, and asteroids in their orbits around the Sun. The law of universal gravitation, discovered by Newton, states that every object in the universe attracts every other object with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
This law explains the motion and stability of objects within our solar system. For example, the gravitational pull of the Sun keeps the planets in their nearly circular orbits and determines their orbital speeds. The closer a planet is to the Sun, the stronger the gravitational force and the faster its orbital speed. On the other hand, when considering more than two bodies, calculating the gravitational interaction becomes more complex.
Large computers are required to accurately calculate the effects of multiple objects' gravitational forces on each other. However, even if the force of gravity weakens with distance, it never becomes zero, which means its influence is felt throughout the entire universe.