Monday, 29 June 2020

newtonian mechanics - How do the Planets and Sun get their initial spin?




  1. How do the Planets and Sun get their initial rotation?




  2. Why do Venus and Mercury rotate so slowly compared to other planets?




  3. Why does Venus rotate in a different direction to Mercury, Earth and Mars?






Answer



Anglular momentum is conserved, so any tiny initial rotation that a the original ball of gas had becomes faster as the gas collapses down into a star and disk of planets.


Planets near the sun rotate slowly for the same reason that the moon always faces the same side to the Earth - tidal braking


Venus probably received a hit from a some lump of rock / proto-planet some time early in it's life which changed it's rotation. A similar event split the moon off from Earth


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