2007-05-27 04:55:00 · 7 answers · asked by goring 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The General Theory of Relativity has everything to do w/ planetary motion.
According to Einsten, gravity as a force doesn't exist. What happens is that the sun bends space around it. Space is curved around the sun. The planets then orbit the the sun because they are trying to go in as straight a path as possible in this curved space. This path is roughly an ellipse. The planet Mercury has an elliptical orbit that moves. This movement is called "precession." This can only be explained by General Relativity.
2007-05-27 10:46:52 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well when a star dies it can go supernova (means it explodes). From this we get nebulae formations which in turn then spend years upon years forming planetary bodies or new stars from the scattered elements. When our solar system was born there was probably enough force and solar winds to keep us rotating at a constant distance (albeit we ARE moving further away, but slowly). I'm sure there were plenty of other rocks and planets that formed at the same time as our solar system's planets that didn't have the necessary forces to keep them from flying off into deep space or colliding with the sun - we just happened to be fortunate. The Earth could have been formed from any point within a nebula, or dust cloud, in the Milky Way - so wouldn't necessarily have to have been close enough to the Sun to be pulled in by it's gravitational pull.
2016-05-19 00:39:55 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am not a rocket scientist. The phenomenon of planets moving around the sun are explained by Kepler's laws, not by Einstein's theory of relativity.
2007-05-27 05:11:05 · answer #3 · answered by cidyah 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The planets move eliptically because that's how they formed. Relativity cannot explain why they formed that way. The theory can dscribe the orbits perfectly given their initial conditions.
2007-05-27 04:59:57 · answer #4 · answered by Gene 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It doesn't. The planets move around the Sun according to Kepler's First Law of planetary motion. They sweep out equal areas in equal times whether they are at aphelion or perihelion according to his second law. Its an absolute of the universe like the speed of light.
2007-05-27 05:06:21 · answer #5 · answered by styx 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
e=mc squared, maybe the speed of light squared times mass which equals energy helps rotate the planets eliptically, very good question
2007-05-27 04:58:02 · answer #6 · answered by 123 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
he has nothing to do with it
2007-05-27 04:57:44 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋