2006-06-30 08:41:04 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
EVERYTHING-from the extremely LARGE to infinitly small...tom science
2006-06-30 09:06:44 · update #1
It has something to do with a mysterious underlying mathematical principle. Generally, functions are curved. Laws of nature obey simple mathematical formulas. When averaged together, round shapes are formed.
2006-06-30 11:53:20 · answer #1 · answered by j 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would put serious odds on nothing in the universe being spherical. All celestial bodies we can measure accurately are oblate spheroids. Not perfect spheres. To get a perfect sphere, you would need no rotation, and perfectly even gravitational field.
The chance of a 'cloud' of mass self attracting and not attaining some rotation is infinitesimally small. And a perfectly even gravitational field would be pretty hard to come by in our universe.
The formation of the oblate spheroidal shape is a function of gravity balancing centripetal acceleration. This all is for the planetoid and larger class of objects. Of course asteroids and comets could be other shapes.
2006-06-30 16:01:58 · answer #2 · answered by Karman V 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As celestial bodies in the universe get bigger and contain more mass, they start to collapse upon themselves until the majority of the mass is as close to the center of the body as possible which causes it to be sperical... but not all bodies are spherical, many of them start out as potato shaped and then eventually gain mass as stated above... these arent as well known because humans on earth can only see far away objects that are very large and have already collapsed
2006-06-30 15:47:36 · answer #3 · answered by began91 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Everything in our known universe is not spherical. There are asteroids of all shapes, moons that are very lopsided, comets and rocks of al sizes that do not approach spherical. This, of course, is not to mention countless nebulae of all shapes. The things that are spherical probably got that way due to rotation and gravity.
2006-06-30 16:18:37 · answer #4 · answered by Nozall 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Gravity. because gravity is in the center everything will attempt to get as close to the center as possible. On the earth,for example, a ditch will fill rather than water or dirt staying on top of a mountain.
2006-06-30 15:46:18 · answer #5 · answered by dave 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because of gravity. Orbiting masses around a center of gravity, such as a star in a solar system, blackhole in the center of a galaxy, etc.
Planets tend to form into spheres because as it is first forming, it is in a liquid state from its temperature, and its mass equalizes into a spherical form.
2006-06-30 15:44:54 · answer #6 · answered by Justin 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hardly anything is a perfect sphere. Earth isn't... it's sort of stretched at the north and south poles. And planetary orbits arent't...they are very oval-shaped. And the moons of many planets are just random blobs.
But gravity does pull things into shapes LIKE spheres, but not perfect spheres.
2006-06-30 16:19:54 · answer #7 · answered by kellsbells 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
b/c of gravity.
you can't have a 10-mile mountain of water just sitting in the middle of the ocean, right? It would sread out over the surrounding area. So that's what happened when planets were formed - stuff just kept spreading around untill the place is nice and round and nothing sticks out.
2006-06-30 15:43:52 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
there are actually 2 reasons. first is gravity as described by many persons above.
second is surface tension. when these celestial bodies were formed they were first in liquid state. and sphere has the lowest surface tension, so they shaped into sphere to minimize the surface tension, and make itself more stable.
2006-06-30 16:04:01 · answer #9 · answered by sayantanmath 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because gravity has defied gravity
2006-06-30 18:21:34 · answer #10 · answered by 22 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋