- #1
8BitTRex
- 24
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http://i.imgur.com/ZH9huJt.png
Lets suppose this perfectly rigid cylinder has a uniform mass and has a length on the order of the distance between the Earth and Mars or some similar situation. This cylinder is orbiting around the Sun in a 2-body universe. What would this cylinder look like on the opposite side of the Sun?If the cylinder obeyed consv of ang momentum, the cylinder would point non-radially immediately after the initual condition was set up. Since the gravitational force acts as 1/r^2, there would be a net moment on the rod, http://i.imgur.com/J7W3OUQ.png, because the closer end would perceive a lorger force than the the far end.
I guess my question is... Would the cylinder point radially on the opposite end of orbit like in the initial picture, or would the moment cause it to assume some other orientiation?
I don't really have a specific question I'm asking but would like some insight to how the cylinder would act as a function of time.
EDIT: At t=0, the COM of the cylinder is assumed to be in a circular orbit. The cylinder is not spinning with respect to its initial position. The total mass of the cylinder is <<M. Sun is point mass. Width of cylinder is negligeable, assume it is a line with a mass.
Lets suppose this perfectly rigid cylinder has a uniform mass and has a length on the order of the distance between the Earth and Mars or some similar situation. This cylinder is orbiting around the Sun in a 2-body universe. What would this cylinder look like on the opposite side of the Sun?If the cylinder obeyed consv of ang momentum, the cylinder would point non-radially immediately after the initual condition was set up. Since the gravitational force acts as 1/r^2, there would be a net moment on the rod, http://i.imgur.com/J7W3OUQ.png, because the closer end would perceive a lorger force than the the far end.
I guess my question is... Would the cylinder point radially on the opposite end of orbit like in the initial picture, or would the moment cause it to assume some other orientiation?
I don't really have a specific question I'm asking but would like some insight to how the cylinder would act as a function of time.
EDIT: At t=0, the COM of the cylinder is assumed to be in a circular orbit. The cylinder is not spinning with respect to its initial position. The total mass of the cylinder is <<M. Sun is point mass. Width of cylinder is negligeable, assume it is a line with a mass.
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