What causes an object in space to spin?

Question

For example why does a planet spin.

Answer 1

Your answer could be satisfied by a simple web search:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us%3AIE-Address&rlz=1I7SKPB&q=Why+do+planets+spin&btnG=Search

Answer 2

planets don't spin for the same reason as an astronaut does. Every object has a kind of "magnetic" force. The bigger the object, the bigger the force. planets, moons and stars and locked together in dynamic balance. While all are attracted to the sun, they are also attracted to each other. these forces have found a balance with the orbits they are on now. So if you were to remove, say, Saturn from the solar system, the whole thing would collapse like a sand castle. This also explains the spherical shape of the planets. they have been molded while soft due to this movement, like in a potters wheel.

Now if you were to throw an object away fro you in outer space, it would spin around its centre of mass, unless of course you apply the force straight on this centre of mass.

Answer 3

There is no force that causes the planets to rotate. Most of the rotation comes about from the conservation of angular momentum. Angular momentum is given by L=m*w*r2 where m is the mass, w is the angular velocity in radians per second, and r is the radius of the circular motion. Due to conservation of angular momentum, if the radius of the orbit decreases, then its angular velocity must increase (as the mass is constant).

All planetary and stellar systems are born from the collapse of dense interstellar clouds. The clouds may originally be very large (even thousands of light years across). Consider a portion of the cloud the collapses from a size of a light year or so to the size of the solar system. That is a huge change in the size of the system. So, the very slight rotation that the cloud has in the beginning is increased dramatically when the collapse takes place. In fact, this is one of the barriers in star formation: there is excess angular momentum and there has to be a way of losing angular momentum before you can form a star.

Anyway, the bottom line is that stars like the Sun spin from the original angular momentum that was there in the solar nebula from which it formed. Not only that, all orbital motion of the planets (including the spin) is due to this orginal angular momentum.

hope that helps

Answer 4

There is a reason for what causes a planet like the earth to spin. The reason is linked to what causes all motion in the Universe.
When the Earth gains mass its spin slows down ,and at the same time expands it orbital radius.
This is all that can be explained whitout going into aether theory.Rene Descartes theory may give you a better insight on what causes linear motion and spin.The same scenario also applies to the spin of atoms and particles.

Answer 5

Objects continue to spin until something causes them to stop. It's called inertia. If there is nothing to stop a planet spinning it will continue to spin. They got their initial spin from the rotating cloud of dust and gas they were formed from and have continued to spin ever since.

Answer 6

For planets and stars, the spin if sort of fossilised - from the original formation of the solar system.

The original gas cloud had a tiny bit of spin. As it shrank under gravity it spun faster - like a skater pulling in his arms. You can't get rid of it (conservation of angular momentum) so all the bits like planets and sun get a share!

For much smaller things like asteroids, as well as the original spin from the gas cloud there is another way to get spin.

Radiation pressure:
The sun shining on small asteroids can produce a force that makes them spin slowly. Like those black/white vanes in glass jars you see in opticians etc sometimes. This is radiation pressure - and in asteroids produces something called the Yarkovsky Effect.

Answer 7

The sun seems to be pulling the planets making them to spin.

Answer 8

Magnetic pull is created by positively and negatively charged cores inside planets, causing them to repel and 'spin'. This also creates the gravity that each of the planets have...

Answer 9

Unbalanced forces from various planets in earth which produce different strengths of gravitational energy on the object

Answer 10

Momentum, caused by some force acting or having acted on an object at some time.

Answer 11

Also there is less gravity acting on the object to slow it down in space