Randolpin Posted January 30, 2017 Posted January 30, 2017 Planets orbit around a specific star, e.g. the sun in our solar system. What I observed is although billions of years had passed, still the planets orbit around the sun unchanged in it's position or even only a very tiny amount of change.. Why is this? Why planets are faithful to follow the course of their orbits? Can we infer that it's just the result of accident even it characterizes organization?
Strange Posted January 30, 2017 Posted January 30, 2017 Why planets are faithful to follow the course of their orbits? Gravity. And the lack of an external force to make them change. In other words: inertia. (If you want to be metaphysical about it, it is because they can't be bothered to change.)
swansont Posted January 30, 2017 Posted January 30, 2017 ! Moderator Note Thus far this is a question of physics, not religion. Is there some religious aspect you are going to introduce?
Randolpin Posted January 30, 2017 Author Posted January 30, 2017 ! Moderator Note Thus far this is a question of physics, not religion. Is there some religious aspect you are going to introduce? No, you probably misunderstood the word faithfulness here... It means unchange or constant...
Sensei Posted January 30, 2017 Posted January 30, 2017 We're in the middle of life cycle of Solar System. When Sun will start burning Helium, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen and further elements, it will emit larger energy from its surface (and its radius will grow, therefor higher Watts per square meter [W/m2] of surface of planet), photons will vaporize Mercury, later Venus, and perhaps Earth. Radius of Sun could be larger than 100 mln km. When you look at some distant red giant star, you don't think about, and don't see planets that billions years ago were orbiting it. They are gone now.
Prometheus Posted January 30, 2017 Posted January 30, 2017 No, you probably misunderstood the word faithfulness here... It means unchange or constant... No... you have used the word 'faithfulness' incorrectly. If you meant unchanged, say unchanged. It is disingenuous to use your own meaning of a word and accuse others of not understanding.
swansont Posted January 30, 2017 Posted January 30, 2017 No, you probably misunderstood the word faithfulness here... It means unchange or constant... ! Moderator Note I am asking you to justify your use of it and amplify your position. The nature of orbits is a matter of physics. edit: apparently this was moved to religion because of the wording, and now has been moved back to physics. Carry on with the physics discussion.
Bender Posted January 30, 2017 Posted January 30, 2017 There was plenty of change in the beginning, when major collisions knocked over venus and uranus and possibly created the moon. Jupiter might kick out Mercury in the distant future. I've even seen simulation results that predict a tiny chance that Earth gets thrown out of the solar system or into the sun, but I cannot find the reference. 2
Outrider Posted January 30, 2017 Posted January 30, 2017 (edited) There is also the grand tack hypothesis that has Jupiter and Saturn migrating inwards to the area occupied by Mars now and traveling back out to there current orbits causing all sorts of chaos along the way. https://planetplanet.net/2013/08/02/the-grand-tack/ Whoops I put that Jupiter traveled in to Mercuries orbit when it was supposed to be Mars. It's fixed now. Edited January 31, 2017 by Outrider 1
J.C.MacSwell Posted January 31, 2017 Posted January 31, 2017 Planets orbit around a specific star, e.g. the sun in our solar system. What I observed is although billions of years had passed, still the planets orbit around the sun unchanged in it's position or even only a very tiny amount of change.. Why is this? Why planets are faithful to follow the course of their orbits? Can we infer that it's just the result of accident even it characterizes organization? Don't kid yourself Jimmy. If those spherical cows ever got the chance, they'd eat you and everyone you care about! 1
Endy0816 Posted January 31, 2017 Posted January 31, 2017 Earth actually has a Mistress, but she's pretty harsh.
Delta1212 Posted February 1, 2017 Posted February 1, 2017 As alluded to above, the answer is that the orbits don't really remain unchanged. We're just dealing with unimaginably large distances, so any wobbling or drifting is going to take quite a long time to become really noticeable. Even the moon's orbit is drifting away from the Earth at a current rate of centimeters per year. Nothing in the heavens is actually permanent or stable. It just seems that way to us because our lives are so brief in comparison to the timescales involved. To the worker bee living its months-long life in the nest hanging from the tree in your yard, you have always lived in your house and you always will: an eternal, unchanging fixture of the universe.
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