Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

To: lasereye

The website’s comments are pure garbage. All large bodies of matter accumulate rings of orbital matter into an accretion disk due to the force of gravity. All such accretion disks dissipate over time as the orbits of the matter decays andd the matter either falls into the attractor mass or achieves enough velocity to reach escape velocity and leave orbit. The rings we see today are a combination of the matter remaining from the proto-planetary disk and the replenishment matter from the breakup of asteroids, comets, and moons who entered the planet’s Roche limit.

The Roche limit is the distance from the planet where the gravitaional pull from different regions of the planet are sufficient to break apart and approaching comet, asteroid, moon, dwarf planet, or planet. The debris remaining in the temporarily stable orbit forms a ring due to the flattening effects over time of the planetary rotation.

Jupitaer’s tenuous rings were very slightly replenished with some of the debris resulting from the breakup and impact of the Comet Shoemaker-Levy.


10 posted on 11/21/2012 9:00:13 PM PST by WhiskeyX
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]


To: WhiskeyX

I had to come to FR to get defined as to what I believe.

I found out that I am an “Old-Earth Creationist/Natural Selection Dispensationalist.

The Universe is ageless; our clock is ticking.


12 posted on 11/21/2012 9:10:16 PM PST by One Name (Ultimately, the TRUTH is a razor's edge and no man can sit astride it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies ]

To: WhiskeyX
Great post. That is the reason I like FR. It is amazing how people who are considered educated cannot grasp the theory of gravity, moment of inertia, centrifugal/centripetal force, etc. The arguments get real stupid, real fast!
I am interested in how the Roche limit and centrifugal force play in the formation of the rings.
30 posted on 11/22/2012 12:34:41 AM PST by gr8eman (Ron Swanson for President!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson