To: All
I'm curious if the gravity of a planet is affected by it's density. I know our gas giants aren't very dense yet they have extremely strong gravitational fields. Or is mass more of a factor than density?
27 posted on
06/13/2005 1:20:14 PM PDT by
cripplecreek
(I zot trolls for fun and profit.)
To: cripplecreek
Gravitational pull is purely a function of mass and distance.
31 posted on
06/13/2005 1:24:14 PM PDT by
The_Victor
(Doh!... stupid tagline)
To: cripplecreek
I'm curious if the gravity of a planet is affected by it's density. Gravity's affected by the planet's mass. Density is the mass per unit of volume, so they are related. Remember, Saturn has a density of less than 1 (the density of water) while Earth's density is 5 and some change. However, Saturn has a higher "surface" gravity than Earth because it is so much bigger.
33 posted on
06/13/2005 1:27:56 PM PDT by
Junior
(“Even if you are one-in-a-million, there are still 6,000 others just like you.”)
To: cripplecreek
I'm curious if the gravity of a planet is affected by it's density. I know our gas giants aren't very dense yet they have extremely strong gravitational fields. Or is mass more of a factor than density? The gravity field is dependent only on the mass. However the surface gravity is dependent on both the mass and the radius of the planet. The less dense planet will have a larger radius, by the cube root of the density ratio. It's surface gravity will be lower by the square of the cube root of the density ratio.
38 posted on
06/13/2005 1:36:34 PM PDT by
El Gato
To: cripplecreek
Gravity is directly proportional to mass. Density has nothing to do with the equation. Gas giants have high gravity because even though they aren't dense, there's a lot of mass involved.
40 posted on
06/13/2005 1:39:15 PM PDT by
brownsfan
(Post No Bills)
To: cripplecreek
I'm curious if the gravity of a planet is affected by it's densityThe short answer is yes. Gravity is a function of the mass of the body and the distance from the centre of mass. Therefore the surface of a less dense planet would be further from the centre of mass and gravity at the surface would therefore be lower.
44 posted on
06/13/2005 1:43:49 PM PDT by
Squawk 8888
(Proudly Christian since 2005)
To: cripplecreek
To sum up all the responses you've gotten to your query: The gravity at the surface of a planet works out to be directly proportional to both its density and diameter.
63 posted on
06/13/2005 4:42:51 PM PDT by
inquest
(FTAA delenda est)
To: cripplecreek; RockinRight
I'm curious if the gravity of a planet is affected by it's density. I know our gas giants aren't very dense yet they have extremely strong gravitational fields. Or is mass more of a factor than density? Post #6 pretty much answers those questions. It depicts a very dense gas giant ;)
69 posted on
06/13/2005 4:48:24 PM PDT by
m87339
(Squawk: "Plane is rough on Autoland" Response: "Autoland not installed on this equipment")
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