If the earth has a spacific mass which gives it a spacific gravity, we know that. If you take millions of tons of metal off the earth (in the form of satillites thus reducing its spacific mass) would this in turn effect the earths orbit around the sun?
2007-03-30 10:32:23 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
All of the previous answers are wrong. Removing a significant portion of the Earth's mass would have no effect whatsoever on it's orbit. The reduction in mass would cause a commensurate reduction in the gravitational attraction between the Earth and the sun, thereby cancelling out and producing no net change in the force. Think about the experiment on the moon where the astronaut dropped a feather and a hammer at the same time- they both accelerated at the same rate. This is the same principle.
2007-03-30 10:50:20 · answer #1 · answered by indiana_jones_andthelastcrusade 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
All spaceships escaping Earth gravity are launched
'forward', that is in the same direction as Earth orbiting
the Sun. What happens to exaust gas is more tricky.
Most of it either rejoins with Earth atmosphere, while
small portion of it (during final stage of acceleration)
escapes the Earth in the same direction. The net
effect is that specific (i.e. per unit mass) angular
momentum of Earth is decreased.
Answer:
Each spacecraft escaping Earth gravity
slightly decreases the radius of Earth orbit.
2007-03-30 10:58:43 · answer #2 · answered by Alexander 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
No. The earth's orbit is determined by the mass of the earth AND the moon and its satilites. Those ships that we have sent beyond earth's orbit would affect it a little though.
2007-03-30 10:42:06 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Compared to Earth mass, the mass of all the satellites you can send in the space throughout centuries is irrelevant. Besides, we receive every day a good quantity of meteor dust...
2007-03-30 10:48:35 · answer #4 · answered by MadScientist 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
but we haven't taken millions of tons off!
But if we did remove enough to make a difference then the gravitational force between the Earth and Sun would reduce thus increasing the radius of the Earth's orbit.
2007-03-30 10:36:01 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
The earth picks up tons and tons of cosmic dust every year, so the notion that our mass is somehow static is just plain wrong.
2007-03-30 11:12:01 · answer #6 · answered by eggman 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Earth is hit by so many meteors that we won't ever notice the diff.
2007-04-03 10:34:43 · answer #7 · answered by real_seller 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋