• superkret@feddit.org
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    13 hours ago

    Even without air friction, and no matter how flat you throw it, you’d always throw it into an elliptical “orbit”. But the lowest point of the ellipse would still be on the surface, no matter how high the upper end is.
    So it would always come back down, unless you give it another push at the highest point (in space).

    If you just throw it even faster, you’ll hit escape velocity and it would leave earth entirely.