Hi guys, this is a really hard question to put in to words but I'll have a go. Firstly, we know that the solar system primarilly is a plane of orbits. Most of the planets orbit in the same plane, I am not sure what this is called. Pluto I think is the exception. We have worked out our orbits and such reasonably well I think. The question is : If you drew a plane that was orthagonal to the existing with the sun at it's center would the same gravitational effects be evident? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! If we imagine the solar plane as being equatorial, an equator and we drew a plane that was from north pole to south with the sun at it's center. Would the suns gravity be the same for those planets as it is for the current planets? Is there any evidence to support a view on this issue? Sorry if I have confused....
In 2D and viewed from the orbital plane an object can exist at a distance of sqrt(0*0+0*0) from the central mass. This is irrational, the square root of zero does not exist. To calculate the forces on an orbiting body you need 3 dimensions. You can not project orbits into the orthogonal an expect to have the resultant 2D values follow Newtonian laws. Except of course if you are viewing from the tangent of the orbit. As soon as you move away from the tangent or normal of the orbital plane your solution is irrational.
so you are saying.........that the gravitational field of the sun must be spherical? Maybe I should have simply asked why the planets orbit in the plane that they do? And not in differring planes?
Yes we cant discard a dimension. All orbits are chaotic.. We don't know where the earth will be in a 100 thousand years. The butter fly will influence the orbital plane just as much as it does the weather given time. Each orbiting object around our sun has its own declination. In the begining the solar system could be viewed as a plastic solid, centrifugal forces, interactions, and collisions aligned the masses on close to equal orbital planes. Only the heaviest objects follow the general plane. Some orbiting sol objects are as much as 60 degree of the plane.
Hi QQ, My laymen understanding is that we find planets in a single orbital plane (I think this is the case for any system with planets) because of the way a solar system forms. The dynamics of the debri cloud that eventually spawns a star and it's planets force it to 'pancake' for lack of a better description...I guess the best way to demonstrate it is to watch what happens to a top fuel drag car's tyres when it burns out at the start of a race...they flatten out due to centrifigul (sp?) forces etc. Same thing happens to a spinning debri cloud...it natuarlly forms a plane where the planets then form, the planets where just lucky enough to find a stable orbit in that cloud. Then the star ignited, blew away the rest of the debri and voila we have a star with planets orbiting in the same plane. I think that the reason Pluto is on a different inclination is due to the fact that it is not a true planet...most likely an oort cloud object that was captured into a stable orbit around the sun. Apologies if this explaination is too simplistic...as I said it is a laymens explaination. I am sure many here will be able to give you a better description, with some real physics in there.
Rambler No, the explanation is pretty good. Orbits would work the same for planets in a perpendicular orbit to the ecliptic because the gravity acting on the would be the same. We can measure gravity of small masses such as a single kilogram standard. They exhibit the same gravitational field in all directions. We have no reason to suppose that scaling that up to the size of the solar system would change the ratios.
Maddad, so you are suggesting that the planets have formed an orbital plane by chance? Obviouslythis question could also apply to why galactic planes also exist. if what you say is entirely true then why would we not see randomness on planetary orbit planes, and spherical galaxies instead of spiral galaxies? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! BTW thanks for taking the time to respond.
