Earth Mass & Gravitational Balance Of Solar System

neo115

28th May 2012 - 05:39 PM

Hi all,

I want to know what would be the effect of change in mass of earth on overall gravitational balance of solar system.
the mass of earth increases (however insignificant that change may be) when an asteroid hit earth and there is a net decrease when we send a satellite in space. I was wondering if this change in earth's mass may have any (apparently very very small) change in earth-sun-solar system gravitational equilibrium. At first though it may sound really trivial as even a few hundred tonne (10e5) satellite mass is negligible with respect to 10e24 kg of earth. But is there any research on its effect on gravity of earth and overall gravitational balance of the system?
considering all the mass is still in solar system, considering solar system as a closed body, we can assume that there might be some adjustment (which may be in microns) in position of earth which might have a butterfly effect in some way.

i would really appreciate if anyone has some information about it or can provide theoretical explanation of this phenomenon.

thanks

Robittybob1

28th May 2012 - 06:32 PM

I would say don't think of the Solar System as a closed system. I would say 10 times the mass of all the planets has already escaped into deep interstellar space.

Nasa estimated only 15% of the protoplanetary disk gets held by the planets, the rest just drifts away? There maybe another explanation.

The Sun is also losing mass through radiation and solar wind.
It all re-adjusts the orbital distances when the masses change. Nothing is fixed or stays the same.

Quantum_Conundrum

28th May 2012 - 07:12 PM

QUOTE (neo115+May 28 2012, 12:39 PM)

Hi all,

I want to know what would be the effect of change in mass of earth on overall gravitational balance of solar system.
the mass of earth increases (however insignificant that change may be) when an asteroid hit earth and there is a net decrease when we send a satellite in space. I was wondering if this change in earth's mass may have any (apparently very very small) change in earth-sun-solar system gravitational equilibrium. At first though it may sound really trivial as even a few hundred tonne (10e5) satellite mass is negligible with respect to 10e24 kg of earth. But is there any research on its effect on gravity of earth and overall gravitational balance of the system?
considering all the mass is still in solar system, considering solar system as a closed body, we can assume that there might be some adjustment (which may be in microns) in position of earth which might have a butterfly effect in some way.

i would really appreciate if anyone has some information about it or can provide theoretical explanation of this phenomenon.

thanks

It depends on the eccentricity of the orbit of the orginal asteroid.

Since the gravity equation decreases by the reciprocal of distance squared, the asteroid actually effects the outer solar system more on it's aphelion than it would if it was on the earth.

An asteroid isn't going to cause a change that would be noticeable on human time scales, perhaps not even over several millenia, unless it was something ridiculously large, like a rogue planetoid the size of Vesta or Ceres, but that would destroy all life on Earth and we wouldn't be here to see the gravitational effects anyway.

Stuff that's already inside the solar system, like within the main asteroid belt, would have very, very little effects on say Jupiter or Saturn, never mind Pluto.

Robittybob1

28th May 2012 - 07:31 PM

As I read recently "we don't have to worry about those massive asteroids for if they hit we won't be here to worry about them". That is a worry in itself.