In the tetherball analogy for a galaxy's orbit, what acts as the distributed gravitational field 'string'?
Answer
The distributed gravitational field created by the mass of every other star and gas cloud.
The tetherball analogy helps illustrate the concept of stable orbits without a single central anchor. The physical string in the analogy provides the constant inward pull, or centripetal force, required for the ball to swing around the pole. In a galaxy, this single physical string does not exist. Instead, the function of tethering the orbiting stars is performed by the complex, distributed gravitational field generated collectively by the mass of every other stellar body and gas cloud within the entire system, binding everything together.
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What Force Binds A Galaxy Together? - Physics Frontier - YouTube
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