If all the planets are rocks and weren't made by God, how come they are all round, but rocks are never round?

Question

Even tthe moon is round and it doesn't even rotate. Isn't it odd too that we have atmosphere and gravity and no other planet in our solar system does?

Answer 1

curse this question god created everything

Answer 2

True. Rocks are never naturally round. And neither are planets.

Yes, Planets seem to be spheres, not cubes or cylinders or oddball rocky shapes. Some smaller bodies such as asteroids or Mars moons Phobos and Deimos, do have odd shapes, but larger bodies like the nine planets and most of their moons do look like spheres. That's because of the nature of gravity. You can think of gravity as a force that points inward toward the center of the planet so that every part of the surface is pulled evenly toward the center, resulting in a spherical shape.

Of course, planets are not perfect spheres because mountains and valleys and even skyscrapers are all deviations from the spherical shape. However, as planets get larger, gravity gets stronger, until eventually large objects on the surface are crushed under their own weight. That's why we don't have mountains that are 50 miles high or skyscrapers that are 2,000 stories tall. Planets stay basically spherical because any large deviations get crushed.

Although gravity keeps planets close to spherical, there are other forces that cause deviations from the basic spherical shape. For example, the rotation of the earth once every 24 hours, causes an apparent centrifugal force which creates a bulge at the equator. In fact the earth's diameter at the equator is 7,926 miles while the diameter between the poles is only 7,900.

This is all not to say that God is not the Lord of all creation, only that planets are not actually round either, further showing God's unimaginable power and imagination, of which we only have the slightest reflection in ourselves.

Answer 3

During formation, planets take on a spherical shape as their mass and gravity increase, forcing their surface to settle at a uniform distance from the center of mass (a sphere)...hydrostatic equilibrium.

Rocks you find laying around do not obtain their shape through their own gravity, rather from weathering, fracturing, human activities, etc.

The moon DOES rotate on its axis - basically once every 28 days, equivalent to the time it takes to orbit the Earth. Why? A planet's gravitational field distends an orbiting moon, applying a torque which can eventually lead to tidal locking (orbital period = rotation period)

The other planets do have gravitational fields - they even cause the Sun to 'wobble' a bit due to their individual tugging.

Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune...definitely have atmospheres, retained of course by the gravitational fields you insist they do not possess. Venus' atmosphere weighs about 95 times that of earths. Mars' atmosphere, though thin, supports weather and dust devils quite well. The last four planets listed here are gas giants...in a sense, they *are* atmosphere. Of course, at some depth the gas transitions to a condensed state - but you get the idea.

Elementary school science classes cover these topics. I would suggest doing a little background reading before betraying your ignorance so freely.

Answer 4

what the hell are you talking about. There are many planets with atmospheres, they're just made up different then Earth's. Mars has gravity, the moon has gravity, the fact that planets are round means that there is gravity pulling in on the planet's mass making it round. You need to read a science book more and stop reading the bible so much.

Hey Mike, there are 8 planets, not 9. Pluto is a Keiber belt object, not a planet.

Answer 5

1. Only the four planets of the inner solar system (and Pluto) are rocky. The rest are made of gas.
2. Planets (as well as stars) are spherical because of gravity. Gravity pulls the entire bulk of the planet towards the point of center mass, with equal force on each side. So it even out into a sphere. With most rocks, gravity is not quite srong enough to have that effect.

Answer 6

well thats really a good question . you see planets are not completely round , if you consider our own planet it is not round. it is like an orange which is flatened at its poles. due to the gravitational force of Sun and constant rotation and revolution these have transformed into round mass. let me give you an examples
you must have noticed that the pebles that are found near rivers are smooth this is because ot is constantly hit by water otherwise it would also be like other stones everywhere.

and as for the thimg related with moon you have a misconception that moon does not rotate. it does rotate but its rotation time is same as that of its revolution that is the reason why it appears that it doesn't rotate.

Answer 7

All objects have their own gravity, but gravity is a very weak force. You need a VERY large amount of matter to generate even a tiny bit of gravity, but very large objects like planets and moons are large enough to do that. So all planets and moons DO have their own gravity.

Some of these are large enough that their gravity is able to trap an atmosphere. Earth is large enough, and so are most other planets, like Venus, Mars, Jupiter. Ony Mercury (and maybe Pluto) are too small for an atmosphere. One of Saturn's moons, Titan, also has an atmosphere.

Very large objects, like planets and moons, are round because their own gravity makes them round; their gravities pull them into a round shape. But small things like rocks don't have enough gravity to make them round; their shapes are determined by the electrical forces holding their atoms together.

Answer 8

Well, if you take a bid round rock and crack pieces off of it, they are not round, they are jagged, so the last reply is not necessarily valid.

But all planets have gravity to some extent, or what would hold them togther???

Answer 9

that's a good question. its true that not all rocks are round but planets aren't either. they may look like all round and all but i don't think that they are round. i guess what has happened to our planet has caused it to have a atmosphere and have gravity. mars may have something like a life civilization on it along time ago but something may have caused the life to be erased. so we may not be the only one to support life.

Answer 10

I think it is because the spinning of the Earth makes it round just like the spinning of clay will eventually turn the clay into a ball. Rocks are not because they are parts of the Earth.

Answer 11

they are not perfectly round

The moon rotates around the Earth.

they all have atmosphere it's just not livable to us

they all have gravity.