Recent content by jackpelham

Thanks, MFB, but how do we know this? Are the assumptions at work here well-founded ones? How do we know, for instance, that the asteroids were not created/introduced by some cataclysmic event that is outside the ordinary pattern of things that we observe today? Why must it have dated back...

So what's the consensus here regarding whether historical positions of the asteroid belt can be calculated? Does anyone in physics suggest that the orbital radius of the belt has indeed moved over time? If so, what are the calculations about where it might have been at various intervals in the...

Thanks, MFB. Isn't there a difference, though, in the solar sail effect and the radiometer effect? Jack

MFB, Thanks for the reply. Do you believe, then, that the radiometer effect is NOT constantly pushing the orbit of the asteroid belt outward?

Is it possible to calculate the historical whereabouts of the asteroid belt, as it seems to be moving ever outward due to the radiometer effect? Can it be calculated, for instance, where it was 1,000 years ago? 100,000 years ago? Etc. In particular, I'm curious as to whether the science is...

Thanks again to all who participated in the Hand Grenade in Solar Orbit discussion. Here's a related question that was prompted in my mind from that discussion: Suppose we could magically insert a new nano-planet (we'll call it "Bob") into our existing solar system. Let's suppose that...

Yes, Steely Dan, I'm satisfied with the discussion. Thank you all very much for your input. After reading it all, the bottom line seems to be that the outcome of the explosion all depends upon the force of the explosion. With a low-powered explosion, I should expect to see all the shrapnel...

Drakkith and Filip, Thanks for your speedy and apt replies to this hypothetical. Another question, if I may. Let us suppose that the unexploded grenade had been traveling along orbital Plane A, with the sun also on that plane. To make it easy, let's imagine that Plane as if represented by...

Hi, folks. I'm new here and came looking for some expert input on this odd question that came up as a friend and I were considering a hypothetical. Suppose a hand grenade were orbiting the sun---say, half way between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. And to make things easy, suppose that the...