Yes, the simulation was relatively easy to create. I even incorporated RK4 integration based on some information I found elsewhere in these forums. The problem is figuring out the starting parameters for bodies of arbitrary mass and orbital radii.
I am programming an n-body simulation, but to test my program, I decided to start with two bodies. Specifically, I decided to model the Earth-Moon system. The issue I have is that Kepler's laws involve only the motion of one of the two bodies. From my understanding, the other is assumed to be...
I've gotten into an amusing discussion with another individual on the topic of the apparent size of comets as seen in SOHO satellite images of Sungrazing or Sun-impacting comets. I won't go into the crackpot conspiracy theories I've heard, but will instead ask: why do these tiny comets appear so...
I've come to the conclusion that an oblique circular cone is merely a right elliptical cone. The bottom of the oblique cone is a conic section that is inclined such that the ellipse is now a circle. Unfortunately, this doesn't help me much, as I'm sure that rotating a quadric surface involves...
Ok, looks like I was right. I managed to find a page that cites a paper ("Evolution of the western Pacific and its margin", Hilde et. al, 1976, published in Tectonophysics) stating that the plate formed at the junction between three older plates.
Wow, that's a great program! It does indeed show that triangle as the progenitor of the entire Pacific plate. It still seems odd to me that it started by spreading out in all directions, though... It looks like a few older and long since subducted plates spread away from a single point and the...
I have recently experimented with algorithms for rendering colour gradients. Linear gradients are no problem, but radial gradients have proved to be somewhat more difficult. A radial gradient focused at the centre is simply a matter of measuring the distance of a pixel from the centre and...
Sorry. The map I was considering is on page 3 of "Age, spreading rates, and spreading asymmetry of the world’s ocean crust", published in "Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems", 3 April, 2008. A pdf can be found at the following link...
Looking at maps of the age of the seafloor, one can see a rough triangle in the Pacific near the Marianas Trench that represents the oldest area of the Pacific plate. Some maps mark the very oldest area as being roughly at the centre of this triangle. Upon seeing this I found myself asking how a...
Hello, PhysicsForums!
I've been discussing what little I know of plate tectonics with someone and the other party has suggested that convection cells within the mantle (assuming convection really occurs at all) should eventually move such that they no longer push more matter up through...