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now unless were going with the whole electron style classification concluding they 'exist' in all space of their possible orbits or 'energy level' no matter their current intial position... which is interesting...
but were pluto to hit neptune or any other planet... despite the gravitational force... would the forces applied be strong enough to either rip apart the planets ... or only force them to reassemble into different objects.
which we could then call them seti alpha 5 and seti alpha 6...
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No, if Pluto were to encounter Neptune, there would be a big bang, a huge amount of dust and particulate matter spewed out, and the whole thing would re-assemble itself with Neptune pretty much intact, and Pluto either completely absorbed into Neptune, or orbiting it as a moon.
Note that our own moon was formed by a roughly Mars-sized object crashing into Earth.
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C8H10N4O2
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...and a physicist would contend that electrons don't actually exist everywhere in their orbit, they only exist "on average" (with a probablity of 0.95) everywhere in that orbit.
But sub-atomic physics is non-Newtonian, and therefore a whole different discussion...
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C8H10N4O2
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As a final note, I thought it would be useful to revisit what Mike Brown, the discoverer of Xena, had to say about the decision. Note that the new classification also put "his" planet into a new class:
"It's been a fun year having that whole 10th planet thing hanging around, but I can admit that deep down inside, it never felt right," Brown said. "I'm feeling a little relieved that they've done the right thing. I'm a little sad that we've lost the 10th planet, but I'm glad they got the science right."
Brown said he thinks the cultural world will eventually accept the scientific decision.
"If scientists can stick to their guns, I think the culture will eventually come around," Brown said. "But yeah, underdogs and warrior princesses are unhappy today."
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C8H10N4O2
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OK, I see about the quote thing -- you have to decide what you're going to quote BEFORE starting your reply. Thanks for pointing that out to me!
But I wanted to quote specific excerpts from several different posts, in one reply post. Unless I'm dreaming, there used to be a way to do something like
xxxxx
within the post.
Oh, well ... on to the subject ...
I know you were replying to a question about what would happen if Pluto HIT Neptune, but in my earlier post when I said "encounter" I wasn't limiting it to impact. Assuming their orbits cross at or near the same point (which I don't know), more likely than impact is a "fly-by" where Pluto is slung into a different orbit, or perhaps even ejected from the solar system.
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Just goes to show how tough it is to classify things. Personally I'm glad Pluto is no longer considered a planet since it's so different from the other 8. But then again, after reading the many posts in this thread I now think having the terms "planet" and "dwarf planet" will be more confusing. At least with the blood vessel argument presented before all the different types of blood vessels; such as arteries, veins, and capillaries; have their own type but are derived from a common type: blood vessels. With the term dwarf planet now coming in usage you might think that a dwarf planet is a type of planet, but it's not, the term planet now refers to 8 specific objects in the solar system.
Talk about a word with bigger cultural sentimentality, I bet if they decided to change the 8 planets into something else there'd be more controversy, but I think that would be better. Personally, I think it would be better to state that planets are objects in hydrostatic equilibrium that orbit a star. So that would include the current 8 planets, Pluto, and others. The current 8 planets would be given a new classification, say, star planets or something, to indicate they formed from the star they orbit. Basically just something to differentiate them from dwarf planets.
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I was just wondering...
If Pluto ceases to be a planet, does Plutonium ceases being an elemet?
😉 😀
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Hey, check out the Pluto Petition at
Vote your preference. Right now the opinions for "Pluto is a planet" are leading, with 76% of the vote.
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