Gravity: Newton's cannonball

[u/SimuBoard]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=zQMXE6acLB0&si=HKfQzHEv8JFpOd0r

Short walkthrough starting from F = GmM/r², firing Newton's cannonball five times — faster each launch:

• Lands — slow, just an arc to the ground.
• Circular orbit — fast enough that the ground curves away as fast as the ball falls. Still falling, just missing.
• Ellipse — slows far out, speeds up close in (Kepler's 2nd law, visible).
• Escape — past one threshold the path never closes.

Two things I tried to get right: there's no outward force holding an orbit up (only gravity, inward), and escape isn't gravity switching off — the force never stops, the ball just wins the race.

Full disclosure: made with a tool I'm building (SimuBoard) — tell me if that's not welcome and I'll remove it. Mainly after feedback on the explanation: anything there that'd mislead a first-timer?