Thought experiment

[themage]

I have to admit, I stole the idea from what someone else said in another thread. Mondays can be mundane so I wanted to get the oil in the gears rolling and make this post.<br /><br />What effects do you think would happen if by some unknown force were to push Jupiter into Saturn?<br /><br />Things to think about: planetary orbits, Jovian magnetosphere, Saturn’s rings, the satellites and moons of both planets.<br /><br /><br />Lets the ideas flow! <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />

 

[jasonpply]

I think that would be quite a ride. On that note i kinda always what would happen, besides tidal effects, if the moon broke orbit and drifted away? would our days be shorter?

 

[weeman]

I don't know what would happen, I could do some research and get back to you!<br /><br />All I know is that if they slammed into each other at a high velocity, we humans would witness one hell of a show <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Techies: We do it in the dark. </font></strong></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>"Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.</strong><strong>" -Albert Einstein </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[docm]

It would throw so much debris (their moons, ring fragments, displaced asteroids etc.) into the realm of the inner planets that we wouldn't have long to worry about it. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[mindmute]

unknown force? hmmm....<br />assuming the force were gentle enough, and the time it took for the "event" to happen were long enough, it would look like a contact binary. Jupiter would eventually absorb most of Saturn's mass. The heat generated at the "point of contact" would likely be intense enough to spark quite a luminous event. I doubt the moons and rings would have little effect on the overall model. the effect on the moons might be interesting to calculate. perhaps i will erase one of my boards next spring, and work on it.

 

[datalor]

I would tend to agree. It would be one hell of a show to go out on though. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[billslugg]

It would certainly be one heck of a show. If dead on center, a ring would be tossed out. Actually a cone of sorts. Hopefully we would not be in the "zone". An off center approach would cause a spiraling inflow, tossing material every which sort of way. Nasty to all concerned. Most tiny undersea life, burrowing land animals, many tax evaders, and left leaning politicians might survive. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[majornature]

TheMage:<font color="yellow">What effects do you think would happen if by some unknown force were to push Jupiter into Saturn?</font><br /><br />crazyeddie:<font color="orange">That depends on how you do it. If you give Saturn a huge momentum that smacks into Jupiter at right angles to it's orbital motion, the resulting changes in it's orbit could create quite a mess, disrupting the asteroid belt and perhaps affecting the orbit of Mars. But if you nudged it into Jupiter in a relatively gentle merging, probably very little would change.</font><br /><br />eburacum45:<font color="black">The two planets would fall into each other under the influence of their combined gravities. Massive amounts of matter falling at 3.5 gees. This would be a very energetic event, and the collision would cause an explosion of energy that would briefly outshine the Sun. </font><br /><br />Not to mention the Earth being vaporized possibly by the debris from the explosion. More like a planetary supernova....Or Jupiter may have a "gaseous" moon after impact.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="2" color="#14ea50"><strong><font size="1">We are born.  We live.  We experiment.  We rot.  We die.  and the whole process starts all over again!  Imagine That!</font><br /><br /><br /><img id="6e5c6b4c-0657-47dd-9476-1fbb47938264" style="width:176px;height:247px" src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/14/4/6e5c6b4c-0657-47dd-9476-1fbb47938264.Large.jpg" alt="blog post photo" width="276" height="440" /><br /></strong></font> </div>

 

[onesmallstep]

Here ya go:<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBhQhKWOZmk<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[jasonpply]

besides the fact of their moons and rings being of solid mass, is it possible that jupiter or satrn would just absorb the other? after all the planets themselves have no solid mass? correct me if I am wrong is it possible that these gas giants where supposed to be star but never got the spark to start burning. also maybe could the merge of the 2 produce enough energy to start the process? just something to ponder again I dont know.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Can you possib;y turn that into a few sentences so we can understand what you are asking, instead of a very long statement with no punctuation that makes it very difficult to parse the questions into anything that can be deciphered much less answered or understood please thank you very much Wayne we would really appreciate it so we can help you bcause I dont know how many questions you are asking or what they are <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[dragon04]

<font color="yellow">What effects do you think would happen if by some unknown force were to push Jupiter into Saturn?</font><br /><br />Bad ones. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>

 

[majornature]

I think he's asking if there's a possibily the collision of two gas giants can become a star...(assuming that Jupiter and Saturn could have been a star but didn't meet the requirements or that spark he was talking about,...") <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="2" color="#14ea50"><strong><font size="1">We are born.  We live.  We experiment.  We rot.  We die.  and the whole process starts all over again!  Imagine That!</font><br /><br /><br /><img id="6e5c6b4c-0657-47dd-9476-1fbb47938264" style="width:176px;height:247px" src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/14/4/6e5c6b4c-0657-47dd-9476-1fbb47938264.Large.jpg" alt="blog post photo" width="276" height="440" /><br /></strong></font> </div>

 

[billslugg]

Nuclear fusion will occur when you get enough mass together, no spark is needed. It would take about 87 Jupiters to make enough mass to initiate fusion of hydrogen. See Wiki - "star" <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[jasonpply]

oh sorry bout that wayne. just get into a ramble and forget to add punctuations. funny thing is thats how i speak. i get alot of questions like"do you breath when you speak?" or "what?" lol. i'll try to work on my english