Hey, this is my first post here at the forums. I've checked previous topics but havent found anything answering the questions that I have. Firstly, what actually keeps planets and objects suspended in space? Is it simply matter acting like a type of pillow? Secondly, would it be possible in the far far future to actually move planets in an effort to create a stable and liveable planet over time?

Hi and welcome to the forum...

There are folks here that spend a great deal of time studying space and astronomy that can answer this much better than I can, but I will take a stab at giving an answer and I hopefully wont embarrass myself too much in the process.I hopefully am understanding your question correctly.

The gravitational forces acting between different masses (Be them meteors, moons, planets, or entire galaxies) keep items interacting with each other on a large scale. The more massive an object is means that it is going to have a greater impact on other objects around it. The further away two objects are from each other in space the less effect mass has on each other. The more massive an object, the greater the gravitational effect on objects around it; i.e. our sun weigh a heck of a lot more than all of our planets combined and has no problem keeping all planets(and moons and asteroids...) circling as it does. if we were to magically replace our sun with a sun that was 1/10 the same mass, planets would no longer be held as strongly and would begin to drift away like two ice skaters twirling in a circle around each other who let go of each others hands...the force that keeps planets in an orbit is a balance between the gravity pulling it inward, and the rotational speed pulling it away from the center.

I dont know how detailed you want to get, but Einstein did some amazing work on how mass actually effects space, but that is some pretty advanced material.

If you go to the Planet Simulator Game you can kind of get an idea of how massive bodies can interact with each other.

If you go to Wikipedia and look up gravity, it gives a decent start on the idea, and depending on how in depth you want to go, is a good jumping off point to study a bit deeper.

Alright. I dont believe i understand everything just yet. I've always been interested in space and such though I've never looked into everything in depth before. I've attempted to in the past but all of the mathematics and technical naming and such tend to throw me off after a while. Does gravity of galaxies work the same way keeping them clustered close? or are they just sort of free roaming around space?

Edit: Yeah, I actually would like to get more detailed. As i said though the mathmatics and equations and such tend to throw me off. I know i can read the materials all i want but it wouldnt really change the fact that I dont truely understand what it is they are talking about when they mention all of those mathmatics/equations it. Does anyone have suggestions on how to better understand it? Is it something you just need to keep going over and eventually understand it?

Well gravity effects all things on a large scale the same way whether it is two bowling balls side by side or two planets side by side or two stars side by side or two galaxies side by side. As two masses are separated by space, the gravitational effect diminishes.

If you are still in school(Not sure how old you are) taking some math classes up to and including calculus will clear up any misunderstandings and allow you to have some fun(if you find such things fun) calculating orbits of planets and such; it is kind of cool. The effects of gravity between two massive galaxies will effect each other over trillions of miles of empty space...

Gravity is a fairly complex idea; the basic idea is fairly simple to understand, but there are people that study it their entire life and never fully grasp its interactions with all of the other forces in the universe. You can kind of enjoy it at whatever level you are at though; beginner or advanced...astronomy allows you to have a good time regardless of whether you have a degree or not. There are so many good books that you can get out of the library for free that go over astronomy, physics, that kind of thing, that you can read through to answer your questions...there are some really bright people here too that enjoy the same kind of thing.

(again if you are able to take college courses) If you can take an astronomy/physics course it is always helpful because it boils down exactly what you are looking for...I havent taken astronomy in 20+ years...or calculus for that matter so I probably wouldnt be a great deal of help in the heavy math area, but there are a lot of people here like MID and Waspie that are braniacs that can help you and get you pointed in the right direction. Just realize that it takes some studying and work to understand and be able to calculate. There are plenty of computer programs that you can download that can calculate gravitational effects for you, but in my experience, it was nice to be able to understand the fundementals. To get to calculus though you need to build up to that point, so it depends on where you are at now.

...well, I don't know about the brainiac designation (Waspie, sure! Me...well, that's up for debate, at minimum... ).
But I will say this:

You did a really good job with your answers Fluff!



I think the bottom line to the first question is:




Gravity...(although planets aren't "suspended" per-se in space. They're moving, pretty rapidly. They might be what we'd call stable within the confines of a dynamic system, but not technically "suspended" (they may look that way to the casual observer looking at a planet, but that's simply a factor of the vast scale of what you're looking at))...and Fluff got into some detail about that.


As to the second:




I don't see why not...F A R in the future (probably long after the next 20 generations of humans have departed this world...). Who knows what sort of energies will be harnessed by then? I speak optimistically about human potential here...


However, even contemplating a major effect on a planetary sized body is beyond comprehension right now. Humanity's energy and activity cannot have any measurable effect on any significant aspect of it's own planet. Thus, contemplating a human-generated cosmic-scale force which could alter the orbit of a planetarty mass is virtually inconceivable today.

Its good to read new ideas and see new people welcom And Mid is a brain,like Waspie. side note on Mid`s statment "virtually inconceivable" I like that Mid, Mass-vs-Mass and I hope to see new developments in mans potiential of engery managment. Keep postin! DONTEATUS

Nah...there's a few cells missing in MID's brain!

Even with a few cells missings (probably just the ones that would have alerted you to the dangers of 'hot dog' flying) you still have far more than many of us (probably an echo in my brain by now!).

Pffft

I can assure you that you have forgotten more than I will ever know about such things...I will remind you that I had to take calculus twice after a few weeks the first time I was certain that I must have accidently signed up for a foreign language calculus course(Pig latin?), because there was no way it was making sense. To anyone...

It wasnt until second time around I got a better professor that taught astronomy as well as calculus, and could make the formulas useful and fun...then it stuck. For a while. Since then I killed those brain cells.

Shucks...


You guys....(including Fluff...) are too much.

Hey!
Whadya mean "hot dog flying"?!?!?
I wan't never no hot dog. That's "Top Gun" stuff (ya know, flying an airplane under a bridge...buzzing a control tower at 100 feet...that sort of goofy behavior).

I had a dear old instructor many moons ago who told me, "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots...but there are no old, bold pilots."Then of course, he'd pull off a maneuver that made me mess myself and I'd cry, "What do you mean there are no old, bold pilots?! What the hell was that?!"

...he was in his early 60's at the time, and had about 10,000 flight hours. To me, he was "old".

He'd say, "S**t, that wasn't bold, it was just old. It's easy if you know how to fly the airplane...wanna learn how to do that?"
Next thing I knew, standing the airplane on its ear was in fact easy. Yea...a few brain cells perhaps had to be missing to even want to do that...but hey, we all can't be perfect, right?


How about Fluff?

If memory serves me correctly, Fluff's a firefighter (or am I missing a few brain cells there?).
If that's the case, he does some pretty wild stuff that many of us would perhaps consider indicative of being bereft of cognitive functions (bravery is often misconstrued as being nuts...)


...and, for many of us, we are mighty thankful that firefighters do what they do!




Hey Fluff...I had to take that Calculus course too...and based upon your description of yours...we might have been in the same class (lousy teacher, pig latin, no one knew a bloody thing about what the hell was going on, etc...!).


Been there, done that too!

..."What the hell? When did math get this dumb?"