• Question: What would happen if one or more of the planet's dissapeared?

    Asked by jodieo to Betul, Bridget, Ceri-Wyn, Maria on 24 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Bridget Waller

      Bridget Waller answered on 24 Jun 2010:

      Way beyond my basic understanding of physics…but I think this would be bad. It might mess up gravity and tides and all sorts of important stuff like that… Am I right? Does someone else want to jump in here?

    • Photo: Betul Arslan

      Betul Arslan answered on 24 Jun 2010:

      Probably this event happens more often than we think far far away in the galaxy, we just don’t see it. Planet’s disappear because they fill their life span (it is a star going into a black hole). This event doesn’t happen overnight, it takes time and by that I mean millions of years, so that the gravitational force is not dramatically affected. Things would be different if a meteorite bigger than the size of our planet crashes and destroys our planet, though, now that’s something to worry! Feel free to comment on this question if you need! Thanks Jodie 🙂

    • Photo: Ceri-Wyn Thomas

      Ceri-Wyn Thomas answered on 24 Jun 2010:

      Oooh interesting question. I think it depends on which planet disappears actually! If planets like Uranus or Neptune popped out of existence I guess the orbital patterns of all the other planets, including our own would change slightly- that could cause differences in the lengths of our days and years and therefore our seasons and therefore, potentially our climate. If one of the rocky planets went (Mars, Venus or Mercury) those orbital effects would perhaps be more pronounced for us here on Earth. If Jupiter was for the chop this could have a potentially fatal effect on our own planet: Jupiter’s large mass is thought to protect our planet from asteroid impacts since it attracts asteroids to it’s own surface through its higher gravitational pull, deflecting them away from us!

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