system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Might be a dumb question, but since the planets are affected by the Sun’s gravity (orbit), does that mean we are slowly moving toward the Sun since gravity pulls objects closer together?
gpt
It's not a dumb question. It's maybe a common question but here's an answer anyway. Imagine spinning an object around in a circle on the end of a string. What you're doing is pulling it in towards you as you impart rotational velocity on the object. Give it a try - you can really feel that you have to pull on the object to keep it in circular motion. But the object doesn't fall in towards you because you've given it (it already has) some tangential speed. 

This is analogous to the sun 'pulling' the planets into circular motion. The pulling tension in the string is analogous to the gravitational pull of the sun on the planets. But the planets don't fall into the sun because they have tangential speed.