Orbit
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My dilemma today is why do things orbit other things - moons, planets, satellites, that sort of thing. If something in orbit around the earth gets too close it falls to the ground/burns up etc. Too far away and the thing will just keep going under its own momentum and disappear into space. So, there must be an exact distance where these two opposing concepts balance themselves out and things orbit happily. But for that to work, everything would have to be exact, which it isn't. Maybe orbits are just transitory things which happen for a bit but they're the only things we can see. If everything just drifted all over the place in space there wouldn't really be any structure. What's going on?
Regards, Rob Philpott.
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My dilemma today is why do things orbit other things - moons, planets, satellites, that sort of thing. If something in orbit around the earth gets too close it falls to the ground/burns up etc. Too far away and the thing will just keep going under its own momentum and disappear into space. So, there must be an exact distance where these two opposing concepts balance themselves out and things orbit happily. But for that to work, everything would have to be exact, which it isn't. Maybe orbits are just transitory things which happen for a bit but they're the only things we can see. If everything just drifted all over the place in space there wouldn't really be any structure. What's going on?
Regards, Rob Philpott.
You're correct in thinking that there's a sweet spot, and also that orbits are transitory. The moon is currently pulling away from the earth.
I was brought up to respect my elders. I don't respect many people nowadays.
CodeStash - Online Snippet Management | My blog | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier -
My dilemma today is why do things orbit other things - moons, planets, satellites, that sort of thing. If something in orbit around the earth gets too close it falls to the ground/burns up etc. Too far away and the thing will just keep going under its own momentum and disappear into space. So, there must be an exact distance where these two opposing concepts balance themselves out and things orbit happily. But for that to work, everything would have to be exact, which it isn't. Maybe orbits are just transitory things which happen for a bit but they're the only things we can see. If everything just drifted all over the place in space there wouldn't really be any structure. What's going on?
Regards, Rob Philpott.
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Oh yeah, didn't think of that.
Regards, Rob Philpott.
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My dilemma today is why do things orbit other things - moons, planets, satellites, that sort of thing. If something in orbit around the earth gets too close it falls to the ground/burns up etc. Too far away and the thing will just keep going under its own momentum and disappear into space. So, there must be an exact distance where these two opposing concepts balance themselves out and things orbit happily. But for that to work, everything would have to be exact, which it isn't. Maybe orbits are just transitory things which happen for a bit but they're the only things we can see. If everything just drifted all over the place in space there wouldn't really be any structure. What's going on?
Regards, Rob Philpott.
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My dilemma today is why do things orbit other things - moons, planets, satellites, that sort of thing. If something in orbit around the earth gets too close it falls to the ground/burns up etc. Too far away and the thing will just keep going under its own momentum and disappear into space. So, there must be an exact distance where these two opposing concepts balance themselves out and things orbit happily. But for that to work, everything would have to be exact, which it isn't. Maybe orbits are just transitory things which happen for a bit but they're the only things we can see. If everything just drifted all over the place in space there wouldn't really be any structure. What's going on?
Regards, Rob Philpott.
No. (Get some brain plasters ready). The Moon orbits the earth. It does so because the Earth is pulling it gravitationally. The Moon would carry on in a straight line if it were not for this pull so it is therefore ACCELERATING toward the Earth. However, because it is now travelling slightly faster, the orbit diameter increases. Therefore, and this is where non-physicists have a conniption fit, it is constantly moving away from the Earth as it constantly accelerates toward it. The reason it does not crash into the Earth is because the tangential velocity is greater than the terminal gravitational velocity. Remember that virtually no orbits are circular, so be mindful of Kepler's Laws of Motion. The nearer something is, the fast it has to orbit to avoid collision, which is why the inner planets orbit much quicker than the outer ones. And in an elliptical orbit, the orbiting body moves much more quickly as it passes the major loci than at other times.
Rob Philpott wrote:
So, there must be an exact distance where these two opposing concepts balance themselves out and things orbit happily.
No, all things in the universe are gravitationally attracted to all other things, and the laws of orbital mechanics show there are a vast array of areas of orbital possibility. Think about how relatively small our galaxy is, and how far away it is from all the other galaxies. They are all (with the exception of Andromeda) flying away from us at great speed. And yet, our 'Local Group' is orbiting a centre of gravity that is itself being pulled, along with the rest of our cluster, toward The Great Attractor.
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^]
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You're correct in thinking that there's a sweet spot, and also that orbits are transitory. The moon is currently pulling away from the earth.
I was brought up to respect my elders. I don't respect many people nowadays.
CodeStash - Online Snippet Management | My blog | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easierPete O'Hanlon wrote:
You're correct in thinking that there's a sweet spot, and also that orbits are transitory
Er...I think not. There are millions of possible orbits, billions, trillions... There is no 'Sweet spot', so long as the orbiting body has a tangential velocity between the upper and lower ranges then it will orbit. If the 'sweet spot' existed then orbits would be rare rather than exceedingly commonplace. As for the transitory nature, well, yes, I suppose the Universe will end one day. In a two satellite system the harmonics are such that eventually one of the orbiting bodies will crash into the planet (this is inevitable owing to gravitational harmonics), one of the bodies slows the other, causing it to fall in, and 'steals' that angular momentum for itself, thus speeding up and moving outward. Once the collision takes place the system reverts to a stable single orbit system. In the Earth Moon system for example, the moon is racing away at the rate of several centimetres a year, but it will be BILLIONS of years before this becomes a problem. In fact the sun will have shrunk to a brown dwarf which will be rather more problematic than the prospect of losing a moon.
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^]
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My dilemma today is why do things orbit other things - moons, planets, satellites, that sort of thing. If something in orbit around the earth gets too close it falls to the ground/burns up etc. Too far away and the thing will just keep going under its own momentum and disappear into space. So, there must be an exact distance where these two opposing concepts balance themselves out and things orbit happily. But for that to work, everything would have to be exact, which it isn't. Maybe orbits are just transitory things which happen for a bit but they're the only things we can see. If everything just drifted all over the place in space there wouldn't really be any structure. What's going on?
Regards, Rob Philpott.
You left out speed. Maybe theoretically two bodies can have a "sweet spot", but in case of planets and other universal bodies they always travel with a certain speed. Which makes it even harder to understand. [EDIT] I just realized that they also accelerate with values > and < zero.... :-D [/EDIT]
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My dilemma today is why do things orbit other things - moons, planets, satellites, that sort of thing. If something in orbit around the earth gets too close it falls to the ground/burns up etc. Too far away and the thing will just keep going under its own momentum and disappear into space. So, there must be an exact distance where these two opposing concepts balance themselves out and things orbit happily. But for that to work, everything would have to be exact, which it isn't. Maybe orbits are just transitory things which happen for a bit but they're the only things we can see. If everything just drifted all over the place in space there wouldn't really be any structure. What's going on?
Regards, Rob Philpott.
If you have an Android device there is a game called Orbit that you should be able to get from the google play store for free. It's a simple game and all you need to do is get satellites into orbit around a planet - it's not easy and quite addictive(so beware...).
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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You left out speed. Maybe theoretically two bodies can have a "sweet spot", but in case of planets and other universal bodies they always travel with a certain speed. Which makes it even harder to understand. [EDIT] I just realized that they also accelerate with values > and < zero.... :-D [/EDIT]
Speed? We are talking physics here. Leave speed to the Engineers. Velocity, please! Speed is scaler quantity, velocity is a vector quantity. Example... The electron travelling from the light switch to the bulb has a very low velocity, yet it's speed is close to c.
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^]
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My dilemma today is why do things orbit other things - moons, planets, satellites, that sort of thing. If something in orbit around the earth gets too close it falls to the ground/burns up etc. Too far away and the thing will just keep going under its own momentum and disappear into space. So, there must be an exact distance where these two opposing concepts balance themselves out and things orbit happily. But for that to work, everything would have to be exact, which it isn't. Maybe orbits are just transitory things which happen for a bit but they're the only things we can see. If everything just drifted all over the place in space there wouldn't really be any structure. What's going on?
Regards, Rob Philpott.
Something in orbit is constantly falling; it's just moving fast enough that it misses the thing it's falling toward. An orbit can therefore be at any height. If something is moving fast enough two feet off the ground, it will never hit the floor -- however, a lot of lateral force would need to be applied, to counter the frictional forces of the atmosphere, buildings, and people. A stable orbit is one where enough (constant) lateral force is provided for the falling object for it to never hit the floor. Obviously, the higher you go, the lower the effect of gravity, and the thinner the medium that slows you down, so the less lateral force is required to maintain orbital velocity.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Something in orbit is constantly falling; it's just moving fast enough that it misses the thing it's falling toward. An orbit can therefore be at any height. If something is moving fast enough two feet off the ground, it will never hit the floor -- however, a lot of lateral force would need to be applied, to counter the frictional forces of the atmosphere, buildings, and people. A stable orbit is one where enough (constant) lateral force is provided for the falling object for it to never hit the floor. Obviously, the higher you go, the lower the effect of gravity, and the thinner the medium that slows you down, so the less lateral force is required to maintain orbital velocity.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
Mark_Wallace wrote:
A stable orbit is one where enough (constant) lateral force is provided for the falling object for it to never hit the floor.
Firstly it is called tangential velocity. Second...CONSTANT force would be an acceleration. Remember Newton's Laws? All it needs is a single force applied once to give the required velocity, conservation of angular momentum and basic physics mean that once orbit is achieved, no further force is necessary.
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^]
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No. (Get some brain plasters ready). The Moon orbits the earth. It does so because the Earth is pulling it gravitationally. The Moon would carry on in a straight line if it were not for this pull so it is therefore ACCELERATING toward the Earth. However, because it is now travelling slightly faster, the orbit diameter increases. Therefore, and this is where non-physicists have a conniption fit, it is constantly moving away from the Earth as it constantly accelerates toward it. The reason it does not crash into the Earth is because the tangential velocity is greater than the terminal gravitational velocity. Remember that virtually no orbits are circular, so be mindful of Kepler's Laws of Motion. The nearer something is, the fast it has to orbit to avoid collision, which is why the inner planets orbit much quicker than the outer ones. And in an elliptical orbit, the orbiting body moves much more quickly as it passes the major loci than at other times.
Rob Philpott wrote:
So, there must be an exact distance where these two opposing concepts balance themselves out and things orbit happily.
No, all things in the universe are gravitationally attracted to all other things, and the laws of orbital mechanics show there are a vast array of areas of orbital possibility. Think about how relatively small our galaxy is, and how far away it is from all the other galaxies. They are all (with the exception of Andromeda) flying away from us at great speed. And yet, our 'Local Group' is orbiting a centre of gravity that is itself being pulled, along with the rest of our cluster, toward The Great Attractor.
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^]
Dalek Dave wrote:
terminal gravitational velocity
You really should choose better pages from the Google result.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Speed? We are talking physics here. Leave speed to the Engineers. Velocity, please! Speed is scaler quantity, velocity is a vector quantity. Example... The electron travelling from the light switch to the bulb has a very low velocity, yet it's speed is close to c.
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^]
Yes, true, I know the difference (yet always mix the two up)
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Speed? We are talking physics here. Leave speed to the Engineers. Velocity, please! Speed is scaler quantity, velocity is a vector quantity. Example... The electron travelling from the light switch to the bulb has a very low velocity, yet it's speed is close to c.
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^]
Dalek Dave wrote:
Speed is scaler quantity
Is it only scalar when it's not climbing a mountain?
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Dalek Dave wrote:
terminal gravitational velocity
You really should choose better pages from the Google result.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Mark_Wallace wrote:
A stable orbit is one where enough (constant) lateral force is provided for the falling object for it to never hit the floor.
Firstly it is called tangential velocity. Second...CONSTANT force would be an acceleration. Remember Newton's Laws? All it needs is a single force applied once to give the required velocity, conservation of angular momentum and basic physics mean that once orbit is achieved, no further force is necessary.
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^]
Dalek Dave wrote:
Firstly it is called tangential velocity.
It's called whatever I bloody well decide to call it, especially in the context of a discussion board, where such frippery is not relevant. Google again, you'll find that there are several ways of describing/naming it.
Dalek Dave wrote:
Second...CONSTANT force would be an acceleration.
I don't see what point you're trying to make, here, but it's wrong, nonetheless. If a constant force is used to overcome friction, there's no acceleration.
Dalek Dave wrote:
All it needs is a single force applied once to give the required velocity, conservation of angular momentum and basic physics mean that once orbit is achieved, no further force is necessary.
Bollocks. If there's any friction at all, the angular momentum is affected, and not even the remotest parts of space contain an absolute vacuum.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Aha! That was going to be my next question. You seem to know more about these sorts of things than one should so I thought there might be some sort of formal qualification in there.
Regards, Rob Philpott.
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If you have an Android device there is a game called Orbit that you should be able to get from the google play store for free. It's a simple game and all you need to do is get satellites into orbit around a planet - it's not easy and quite addictive(so beware...).
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
That sounds cool. Perhaps a better use of my time.
Regards, Rob Philpott.
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No. (Get some brain plasters ready). The Moon orbits the earth. It does so because the Earth is pulling it gravitationally. The Moon would carry on in a straight line if it were not for this pull so it is therefore ACCELERATING toward the Earth. However, because it is now travelling slightly faster, the orbit diameter increases. Therefore, and this is where non-physicists have a conniption fit, it is constantly moving away from the Earth as it constantly accelerates toward it. The reason it does not crash into the Earth is because the tangential velocity is greater than the terminal gravitational velocity. Remember that virtually no orbits are circular, so be mindful of Kepler's Laws of Motion. The nearer something is, the fast it has to orbit to avoid collision, which is why the inner planets orbit much quicker than the outer ones. And in an elliptical orbit, the orbiting body moves much more quickly as it passes the major loci than at other times.
Rob Philpott wrote:
So, there must be an exact distance where these two opposing concepts balance themselves out and things orbit happily.
No, all things in the universe are gravitationally attracted to all other things, and the laws of orbital mechanics show there are a vast array of areas of orbital possibility. Think about how relatively small our galaxy is, and how far away it is from all the other galaxies. They are all (with the exception of Andromeda) flying away from us at great speed. And yet, our 'Local Group' is orbiting a centre of gravity that is itself being pulled, along with the rest of our cluster, toward The Great Attractor.
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^]
Dalek Dave wrote:
The Moon orbits the earth.
<<MaximumPedantryInPedanticPedantMode>>
Actually, no. The Earth and Moon both orbit the Earth/Moon barycentre, approximately 2,600 miles from the centre of the Earth. ;P
<</MaximumPedantryInPedanticPedantMode>>