This is a great question that gets at the heart of how gravity works! The answer lies in understanding that gravity is a force of attraction between any two objects with mass.

Here's the breakdown:

* The Earth has a much larger mass than a cannonball. This means the Earth exerts a much stronger gravitational pull on the cannonball than the cannonball exerts on the Earth.

* The Earth is essentially stationary. While the Earth does move, its movement is negligible compared to the cannonball's movement when it falls.

* Therefore, the cannonball experiences a much stronger force pulling it towards the Earth than the Earth experiences pulling towards the cannonball.

It's not that the cannonball "falls" towards the Earth, it's that the Earth and the cannonball are attracted to each other, and the Earth's much stronger pull wins out.

This is why we perceive objects falling to the ground – they're actually being pulled towards the Earth's center of gravity.