Alberto, good explanation of planetary angular momentum.
As you might guess, the total angular momentum of an isolated
system - the sum of all those spin and orbital momenta of all
bodies - is a constant vector.
This reminds me of the problem that Planck solved. In the latter 19th
century, people working with black body radiation wondered why
electrons did not lose all their energy radiating electromagnetic
radiation as they accelerated. Planck figured out that if small but
discrete variations in energy were required before energy could leave
such a system, then an electron could not lose energy, except when the
energy change was big enough. Consequently, atoms would stay together
as we known them, and the black body radiation curve would fit
Planck's equation. Hence quantum mechanics.
Quick question:
Does an otherwise isolated planetary/stellar system give off gravity
waves? In other words, must such gravity waves be counted as part of
the system?
I have heard it said that the measurements of the changing orbits of
some binary neutron stars suggest that they are giving off gravity
waves, so that to conserve the total energy of their system, their
angular momentum must decrease. Is this true?
--
Robert J. Chassell [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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