How far from the Sun must you travel before its gravitational influence is zero? Why is this point a poor choice to define as the boundary of the Solar System? What is a better choice of boundary and why is it better?
Podobne:
- What Is The Difference Between A Fullsize Travel System And A Compact One? Hi all, We are expecting our first baby in march! But while searching for carseats and strollers, we got confused as to what is the difference between a full size......
- What Is A Good Stroller For Airline Travel? I have a four month old and I do not want to hassle with taking my whole travel system on the plane. My in-laws have a car seat for us......
you have to be infinitely far away before the gravitational influence is zero. If you picked that as the boundary of the solar system, then the entire universe would be in our solar system. The entire universe would be in every solar system. I am not sure what the actual definition is for the boundary of our solar system. To me, there are two logical boundaries, a practical and an ideal. The practical boundary is the point at which the gravitational effect of the sun is too weak to keep an object in orbit – that will vary with the mass and veloicty of a given object. The ideal boundary would be the point at which the graviational effect of another star is greater than that of the sun – anything farther out than that distance would become part of the other stars system.
It will always have some influence on you the farther you get from the sun the less it has. In fact every time you double the distance the suns gravity is 1/4 as strong as it was.
Its just after you get so far from the sun and closer to a different large body that body will have more influence on you then the sun .
The attractive force of the sun, or any other masses in the universe, is
F = G(m1m2)/r^2
where;
G = (6.67428 +/- 0.00067) x 10^-11 (m^3/kg s^2)
m1 = mass of 1st object
m2 = mass of 2nd object
r = distance between the 2 objects
So you see, the greater the distance, the less the Force. It would only be zero when the distance, r, is infinity.
Infinitely far. Gravity follows the inverse square law. In other words, if you go twice as far away from the sun, the gravity becomes 1/4. If you go three times as far away, the gravity is 1/9. Four times as far, it’s 1/16. It becomes extremely small at greater distances, but it never becomes zero.
To add to your question … and be influenced gravitationally by something else? The answer is slightly beyond the Oort Cloud, which extends about twice Pluto’s orbit. Beyond that you would be influenced the next star that maybe out there. Same thing can be said for the sun’s heliosphere. In other words, where the influence of star ends only the influence of another star begins.
1. To a theoretical infinite distance.
2. Because this gives you no information about the solar system- it would be infinity for any mass.
3. The outermost planet is a sensible choise for the boundary.
To infinity, and beyond!
Obviously, infinity is a bad way to describe anything physical.
The better choice is to observe the farthest planets affected by the sun (ie. orbiting the sun) and call that the boundary.
you could say its infinite or you could say half way to the next star so that the gravity of the 2 stars cancel out, depending on the mass of the nearest star and other factors like the planets that orbits both and the sum of both solar systems.
Gravitational distance is infinite – or at least in this universe. For the gravitaional influence to be abslute zero, you would have to go to another universe.
In the immortal words of Buzz Lightyear, „To infinity, and beyond!!” Gravity acts across infinite distance.