B Can Jupiter gravitationally eject a pebble in orbit? A smaller mass?

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on the possibility of a larger mass, like a planet, ejecting small objects such as pebbles or even atoms from orbit. It highlights that unstable orbits can result from external energy, often from a third body, which can disturb the stability of an orbiting object. Saturn is cited as an example, with its numerous moons and ring particles, suggesting that it is plausible for Saturn to eject smaller orbiting debris. The conversation emphasizes the need to understand the terms of "eject" and the previous orbits of these objects to fully grasp the mechanics involved. Ultimately, the potential for ejection of small objects from a planet's orbit is supported by the dynamics of unstable orbits influenced by external forces.
syfry
Messages
172
Reaction score
21
TL;DR Summary
Is there a ratio between the mass of a planet to an orbiting object that would prevent the orbit from being gravitationally ejected?

For example Jupiter might eject a large enough moon, but can it eject an orbiting pebble?
Is there a limit to the smallness for a larger mass to eject? Can a planet eject a grain in orbit, or even a lone atom in orbit?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
What do you mean by the term "eject"? What was the previous orbit of the object? Where did the object come from? Unless it was already in an unstable orbit due to initial conditions, where did the extra energy come from to disturb the stable orbit and cause it to become unstable? Links?
 
berkeman said:
What do you mean by the term "eject"? What was the previous orbit of the object? Where did the object come from? Unless it was already in an unstable orbit due to initial conditions, where did the extra energy come from to disturb the stable orbit and cause it to become unstable? Links?
Ah. good questions! They informed me about the mechanisms: an unstable orbit from outside energy.

Where does the energy come from? Probably a third body, which is the usual cause of unstable orbits.

So now that we have a cause, can an orbiting pebble be ejected?

An example is Saturn: it has 63 confirmed moons, and, many bits in Saturn's rings are pebble sized.

With so many things orbiting, we should expect unstable orbits somewhere in that soup. Can Saturn eject one of its orbiting pebbles?
 
Thread 'Question about pressure of a liquid'
I am looking at pressure in liquids and I am testing my idea. The vertical tube is 100m, the contraption is filled with water. The vertical tube is very thin(maybe 1mm^2 cross section). The area of the base is ~100m^2. Will he top half be launched in the air if suddenly it cracked?- assuming its light enough. I want to test my idea that if I had a thin long ruber tube that I lifted up, then the pressure at "red lines" will be high and that the $force = pressure * area$ would be massive...
I feel it should be solvable we just need to find a perfect pattern, and there will be a general pattern since the forces acting are based on a single function, so..... you can't actually say it is unsolvable right? Cause imaging 3 bodies actually existed somwhere in this universe then nature isn't gonna wait till we predict it! And yea I have checked in many places that tiny changes cause large changes so it becomes chaos........ but still I just can't accept that it is impossible to solve...
Hello! I am generating electrons from a 3D gaussian source. The electrons all have the same energy, but the direction is isotropic. The electron source is in between 2 plates that act as a capacitor, and one of them acts as a time of flight (tof) detector. I know the voltage on the plates very well, and I want to extract the center of the gaussian distribution (in one direction only), by measuring the tof of many electrons. So the uncertainty on the position is given by the tof uncertainty...
Back
Top