In our solar system why does all the planets revolve around the sun in 2 dimensional only ?

Question

But not in 3 dimensional.
Approxmately all the planets revolve round the sun in 2 D only...

Answer 1

that is a good question.

first of all, all planets do not have their orbits in the same plane, but close enough to wonder.
I think it is because planets were formed from the same protoplanetary dust cloud, which had probably a disc shape.
The disc shape for a dust cloud around a massive object seems to be the configuration of less energy.
See for example the disc of Saturn.

Answer 2

I am not sure what exactly yo mean by 2 D and 3 D here.....But, if you mean 2D as planetary orbits being in the same plane...then it is not true. All planets have their orbits at different angles in 3 dimensional space. Also note that some planets revolve in the opposite direction to the others. Orbits of Neptune and Pluto actually cross each other.

Answer 3

There are actually bodies such as asteroids and comets that have orbits on completely different planes around our sun. The seemingly, though not perfect alignment of the orbits is one reason scientists theorize that our solar system began as a disk of space dust. As the when the sun was born and all this matter began to clump together...centrifugal force began to force it into the same plane. If you want to test it. Put a clump of dirt in a pile on a frisbee...now supe up a record player so you can get some force out of the spin. As the Rotation speeds up...you'll notice the same thing happen. The pile of dirt will level out and it will start to gather a the edge of the frisbee...if you placed it on the top of the frisbee instead of the bottom it would simply fly off all over your room...leaving a big mess....

Answer 4

I think that centrifugal force plays a role in their very near 2-D orbits. You'll notice that alot of the galaxies that you see pictures of are generally flat and disc shaped. Like the sombrero galaxy, very flat and disc shaped. That spinning action causes objects to extend away from the center in a generally linear direction.

I stress generally though because like it was mentioned a few questions before, Pluto and Neptune and several comets have atypical orbits in our solar system. I believe this is the case because they weren't original bodies in the creation of this solar system but were later 'caught' in the sun's gravitational field, thus giving them unique orbits.

Maybe not so much Neptune, but that may be the exception that proves the rule.

Answer 5

It is not exact 2 dimensions. All the planets follow the rotation of the sun

Answer 6

Each orbit remains fairly flat due to something called conservation of momentum. Each planets spin remains fairly constant due to conservation of angular momentum.

For a planet to bob up and down in its orbit would take a complex and repeating set of impulses, something that does not exist in our solar system. Such a set of impulses is inherently unstable, as it would end up with each body or planet escaping or colliding, and they or the debris would end up, once more, in flat orbits.

The inertia of any moving body makes it follow the lowest energy path and this is usually a straight line in free space, and a curve near a gravity field. So in the end, it is due to energy and conservation that each planet remains in a flat, stable orbit.

Answer 7

Actually, it is in three dimensions. The plane of the earth's orbit is called the ecliptic, and the orbits of the other planets are in planes tilted with respect to the ecliptic. The tilt is fairly small except for Pluto, which is weird in lots of ways.

Answer 8

GOOD QUESTION.. KEEP IT UP..
B'COS ..SUN IS BIG PLANET.
2. EVEN THOUGH THERE ARE SO MANY OTHER BIG PLANETS THAN THE SUN THEY TOO FOLLOW..

3.ACCORDING TO THE PRINCIPLE OF MAGNETISM AND GRAVITY ..
4.IF ONE PLANET IS REVOLVING OTHER PLANET MAGNETISES THE OTHER AND THE PROCESS CONTIUES..


2.Q.ANS:- MAY BE ITS REVOLVING IN 2D BUT IT ROTATES IN 360 DEGREES.. SO EACH AND EVERY PART OF THE PLANET IS EXPOSED TO SUNLIGHT.. ITS NO PROBLEMM

ACTUALLY THESE 2D AND 3D'S ARE FOR THE HUMAN BEINGS BUT NOT FOR THE PLANETS..
BYE..

Answer 9

the orbits are not aligned, thats how paths of the planets pluto and neptune can appear to cross in a diagram but they will never collide because they are on different planes

Answer 10

it would simply distabilise t...which is an unreasonnable theory considering the strong attraction of the sun...
did you know that earth gets closer to the sun evrey year?