Single Body Gravitation in a Universe with Only One Planetary Body

[nDever]

Greetings everyone,

I am a first time poster. I suppose that my initial post will be slightly non-scientific.

This question would seem to to be related to the question asking "Does some event happen if no one is there to observe the happening?"

If the contents of the universe consisted of only one single planetary body, would that body exert a gravitational field?

 

[TurtleMeister]

Welcome to Physics Forums.

Yes. The fact that the planet exists is evidence that it has a gravitational field. Gravity is what causes planets to form and it is what holds them together. It would not make any sense for a planet to form and then it's gravity disappear. If that happened it would probably break apart and would no longer be considered a planet.

 

[nDever]

Ah, I did not take into account that gravity acts on the individual particles that constitute the planet.