2007-05-31 16:32:53 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Bodies more massive than a certain limit are forced into a sphere by gravity. Smaller objects can stay irregular in size because their material strength is greater than the force of gravity.
2007-05-31 16:44:55 · answer #1 · answered by Michael da Man 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depends on who you believe. As the previous responder noted, small bodies are not round. Somewhere around a few hundred kilometers in diameter, gravity causes mass to take a spherical shape. Perhaps the more religiously inclinded can explain why God didn't make these objects cubes or some other shape.
2007-05-31 23:38:40 · answer #2 · answered by cattbarf 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The more massive an object the more spherical - this is due to gravity pulling the mass uniformly towards the centre.
But smaller bodies like many asteroids and comets are not spherical - some are oblong, some shaped like potatoes, some just heaps of rock barely held together by feeble gravity or just luck.
2007-05-31 23:37:07 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
If they're in Cubes, people would mistake them for the Borgs. If they're in triangles, people would mistake them for the Star Destroyers. And so on.
On the other hand, if they were round, people would mistake them for the Death Star.
As for the Exterior Decorator's idea for them. Well, fortified spheres and so on were put there to beautified it for the onlookers. So... Maybe some celestial bodies were spheres because people like to look at round things?
Or do you prefer them to be in cubes and pyramids?
2007-06-01 01:56:40 · answer #4 · answered by E A C 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not all are, but left to the effects of gravity alone, an object might take on the ideal shape of a sphere.
2007-05-31 23:54:36 · answer #5 · answered by screaming monk 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
THey aren't. Some asteroids are highly irregular.
Over a certain mass, they all become spherical b/c it requires the least energy. Gravity pulls equally from all directions. If a planet were to be square, the corners would be pushing out against gravity and over a certain mass this is impossible
2007-05-31 23:35:19 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Like DOUGLA M said, they're simply not. Think of a basketball. From a distance, it looks like a perfect sphere, however up close you notice the grooves and thousands of tiny raised bumps.
2007-06-01 01:57:18 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Simple answer their not, not even the earth.
2007-05-31 23:42:11 · answer #8 · answered by DOUGLAS M 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋