I have a question about Pluto and it demotion?

Question

From what I understand Pluto was demoted because it was not the dominant body in its orbit having cleared other objects from its orbit, namely Neptune. But it was also my humble knowledge the Neptun and Pluto only have overlapping orbits when it is represented on a 2d piece of paper, but in reality they could never collide. So what's goin on there?

Answer 1

Pluto's orbital path is at an incline of 15 to 17 degrees. Not only that, but it is an oval, rather than a circle. The closest they will ever come to each other is about 6.4 AU's (1 Astronomical Unit= the distance from Earth to the Sun= 93 million miles).

The minimum distance was 18.9 AU in June 1896. In other words, Pluto never approaches Neptune much closer than it approaches Saturn.

Also, Neptune's mass is a lot more than tiny Pluto's, so when Neptune starts approaching Pluto from behind, Neptune actually slows Pluto's orbit down, and conversely speeds it back up once Neptune passes Pluto.

Example:
You're 6 feet tall, 220 lbs and your name is Neptune, and you are being beaten in a footrace by a 3 foot tall guy who weighs 70 lbs named Pluto who is on the outside lane. It's kind of like pulling on the leader's shirt during the race and letting go once you pass him, only to have him pull your shirt to vainly try to catch up as you muscle past him to win the race...

Answer 2

Pluto got demoted because astronomers say that Pluto is too small to be a planet.I mean the moons Titan and Ganymede are bigger than Pluto.Pluto being demoted has nothing to do with it's orbit.

Answer 3

People's definition of a planet. No matter what it is called on earth, it will still exist and continue in it's orbit.

Answer 4

Because they're in 2d space. Their orbits don't come anywhere near each other.

Answer 5

It's also too small.