All Questions
18
questions
0
votes
2
answers
65
views
How symmetric do we know the gravitation field to be?
Currently, the only ways to measure gravity is on quite large scale. So these experiments measure gravity averaged between vast systems of particles. Of course, such an averaging results¹⁾ in a ...
- 101
-2
votes
3
answers
149
views
Why is the shape of the orbit of the Earth as it is?
My View: I think that if the sun were only force acting on earth (as a centripetal force), the earth would have a circular orbit. Since other planets also exist , there also exists gravitational force ...
- 159
1
vote
2
answers
267
views
How close can Jupiter be to Earth without making Earth unhabitable? [closed]
How close can Jupiter be to Earth without making Earth unhabitable? What's the closest distance possible? Can Jupiter be twice or three or four times as close to Earth as Mars without having any ...
- 791
0
votes
1
answer
259
views
Orbit eccentricity and initial velocity
I was thinking about orbital velocities, and came across this question (Velocity of satellites greater than required velocity). Does the answer to this question imply that for planets going round the ...
- 141
0
votes
2
answers
48
views
Rotation of planets [duplicate]
Sun attracts earth by gravitation.
And similarly every heavenly body attracts others.
But why are they rotating? The sun is moving in ellipse in the galaxy, the earth is rotating and revolving and ...
- 101
8
votes
3
answers
991
views
Gravitational advantage of outer planets in war
The Expanse books cover a lot of aspects of war in a situation where humans inhabit many planets and moons of the solar system.
The author makes the point that, in a war situation, the outer planets ...
- 139
3
votes
3
answers
804
views
Why are star systems flat but planets are spherical?
This video vaguely explains why the solar system (or other star systems and galaxies) are flat.
So, does the same argument apply to planets?
The general answer is that for a given volume, a sphere ...
- 1,804
2
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What are the gravitational binding energies of giant planets?
What are the gravitational binding energies of the planets in our solar system? In particular, interested in the giant planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Ideally the information would be ...
- 756
2
votes
1
answer
89
views
Nice model of Solar system: Does gravity produce larger distance between objects? [closed]
Counter intuitive it seems that in some cases gravity results in a higher orbit and greater distance. For example the moon is attracted to the Earth but because it gets a higher speed it ends up ...
- 3,348
5
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Why are large planets away from the Sun and smaller planets near the Sun?
In school, we are taught that every planet attracts every other.
$$F=G\frac{mM}{R^2}$$
Stars have a large gravitational force and it attracts every large object.
Every planet has a different mass ...
- 579
0
votes
3
answers
269
views
Gravity effects when deleting stars or planets
In one of the latest SCIFI movies, they collect a star absorving it entirely in a kind of planet size gun/machine. As mass cannot disappear, I assume it was just concentrated inside their machine (...
- 193
2
votes
3
answers
462
views
How did planets start to spin and do all of them spin in same direction? [duplicate]
How did planets start to spin in the first place?
Some say that gases which condense and form planets start spinning and hence planets acquire a spin. And some say that they start to spin to conserve ...
- 382
0
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Why do planets move in fixed orbits?
Is it because the bending of space that occurs around the Sun creates a force acting on the planet which accelerates it towards the Sun ($F=ma$) while the planet has a tendency to move in a straight ...
- 13k
0
votes
1
answer
284
views
How would the solar system change if the Earth were removed
I was reading a closed question with the same title and wondered if it would be on-topic with the following change:
Could a large-mass object from interstellar space pass through the inner solar-...
- 7,300
3
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Why do we orbit around the sun instead of one the other stars?
I am still very new to many physics theories, however while sat in class today, a thought came to mind that I have not been able to answer from simple googling.
What is so specific about our sun ...
- 323