Recent content by Shubert

Kurdt, Okay, that's a good analogy, and it helps model the idea that you are getting across. So, it seems that you are saying that, as soon as the surrounding dust is gone, a planet which was in a decaying orbit will simply stabilize in whatever orbit happens to match its velocity. So, it...

But if the original disc is coalescing, shouldn't all of the dust have been on its way into the center of the nebula? And if so, shouldn't all of the planetoids thus formed also be heading for the center?

Right - that's a given, assuming the original conditions. But I still don't see how any of the matter in the original cloud ended up in stable orbits. It would seem that all of it was on the move inward, and should have continued in that direction, until fusion began in the center and a solar...

So, then, in order to form a stable planetary system, the original nebula must have been rotating stably. I remember reading that the rotation of the original nebula was thought to have been the result of gravitic attraction within the nebula. But based on what you are saying, this could not...

I guess I confused myself by trying to think in tensor terms. I was remembering the motorcyclist on the conical wall: The faster he went, the higher up the wall he went. And the more mass you put on the motorcyclist, the faster he had to go to make it to his "orbit". Right? But I guess that...

Kurdt - thanks for this guidance. I was wondering about that. But if you would go one more step with me, that will probably be sufficient. So, what you are saying is that the only variable which determines orbital distance is orbital velocity - that the mass of the orbiting object is...

Right. And thanks for adding a little math to the discussion. So, if the mass increases while the velocity remains the same, then the orbit will decay into the sun. Right?

Sorry, I must not have put that very well. I'm not saying that the mass affects the velocity or distance. What I am saying is that the distance of a given mass, in a stable orbit, from the sun is a function of its velocity and mass - proportional to velocity, and inversely proportional to...

In a recent theological discussion, I came to realize that there is a point in question regarding planet formation in the current model of the origins of the Solar System. The question itself is not theological, but has some theological ramifications. It goes like this: Planets are believed...