Can planetoids repair complete fractures?

[Loren Booda]

If a planetoid undergoes a complete fracture between substantial portions of its mass, how often will gravity maintain its spheroidal integrity, and how often repair the break?

 

[tony873004]

Rubble may often slide downhill and fill the fractures, hiding them. It also depends on what size planetoid. The irregular shaped ones probably won't do much beyond a cloak of rubble. The larger ones will treat such a feature as a mountain or cliff too steep to not erode back into a sphere.

Just my guesses...

 

[Loren Booda]

I was thinking that tidal forces might eventually fuse as well as create the fractures, but in the meantime many of these solid planetoids actually suffer potentially catastrophic cracks held together by gravity.

 

[tony873004]

Hey! the planetoids in your avatar have fractures in them!

 

[Loren Booda]

They're actually bell-shaped, but I appreciate the comparison. Seismic ringing?

 

[franznietzsche]

If a planetoid undergoes a complete fracture between substantial portions of its mass, how often will gravity maintain its spheroidal integrity, and how often repair the break?

If it remains gravitationally bound, the fracture, will over time (assuming geologic processess) go away. It depends on the momentum and kinetic energy of the parts after fissure. The key is whether the two pieces remain gravitationally bound.