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Post by silverdragon on Jan 7, 2013 5:49:21 GMT
You have to bear with me on this one, 'cos its a theoretical problem...
If it were found that a planet existed that was pure frozen ice, water ice...
Or even one with a surface of several miles of frozen water ice...
If you melted that ice by raising the temp (Global warming) how would that change the characteristics of the planet?...
Say start with melting just a mile of the surface....
Would that change if the whole planet melted to the core?... would a planet size bubble of water stay as one in space?...
Would the resultant tidal activity of having all that water affect its spin rate, or even its orbit?...
Well, this IS the place for "Strange" ideas, and they dont come much stranger than this?... or do they?...
Reason for asking... I suspect that like our own, there may exist other planets with possible molten volcanic cores, but with a frozen surface.
What would happen if those volcanoes became active?...
Our OWN planet had an Ice age... did that change how the planet span?...
Does having any form of atmosphere change things?...
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Post by privatepaddy on Jan 7, 2013 13:15:10 GMT
You have to bear with me on this one, 'cos its a theoretical problem... If it were found that a planet existed that was pure frozen ice, water ice... Or even one with a surface of several miles of frozen water ice... If you melted that ice by raising the temp (Global warming) how would that change the characteristics of the planet?... Say start with melting just a mile of the surface.... Would that change if the whole planet melted to the core?... would a planet size bubble of water stay as one in space?... Would the resultant tidal activity of having all that water affect its spin rate, or even its orbit?... Well, this IS the place for "Strange" ideas, and they dont come much stranger than this?... or do they?... Reason for asking... I suspect that like our own, there may exist other planets with possible molten volcanic cores, but with a frozen surface. What would happen if those volcanoes became active?... Our OWN planet had an Ice age... did that change how the planet span?... Does having any form of atmosphere change things?... Just some thoughts, I don't think a planet of pure water ice is likely to exist. Why is rather complex, it could not exist in the goldilocks zone around any sun because as the sun melted the ice to water, which due to the lack of atmosphere would instantly boil, while the lack of any magnetic field would not prevent the solar wind from blowing the water vapour away. This planet in this zone would not exist unless it drifted in from deep space like a comet. Its chemical composition of pure water ice is also unlikely. The universe does not deal in pure substances, well at least from my observation. Out past the goldilocks zone? gravitational tidal forces acting on the body may cause it some problems. it is an interesting though experiment. |
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Post by srmarti on Jan 7, 2013 21:02:46 GMT
Seems I recall reading that at the pressures present in planetary sized bodies, a form of ice can exist at fairly high temperatures. I think the most significant effect of tidal action would be slowing rotation over time.
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Post by silverdragon on Jan 8, 2013 9:05:00 GMT
Good points so far... and yes, I can see that ONLY water planet in any form may be a bit problematical....
Ok, smooth out the surface of earth and add a few gallons to make a planet with solid rock mantle entirely covered with water that is frozen... kinda like earth but no land protuberances during an ice age.....
As stated, this is a thought experiment, so lets go wild if needs be, we do have the whole of Infinite space to extrapolate for ideas?...
From our own galaxy and moons of Jupiter, (I think Io ?), can we go for frozen Methane instead of Water?.... or any other fluid/liquid/solid temp dependant matter?....
Will having a mostly or all solid matter planet where part/all of that solid melts to liquid affect its stability spin rate and orbit?.....
Perhaps our own moon once had a fluid surface, did that suddenly de-gas its atmosphere and the liquid dispersed into outer space?.... or did that liquid get attracted to Earth?...
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Post by privatepaddy on Jan 8, 2013 9:34:09 GMT
Ok I think this is how it went re spin, the Earth was said to have collided with a Mars sized planet which formed our moon. The day at that time was I believe said to be 14 hours with the moon considerably closer than it is today. The tidal interaction between the seas on earth and the moon slowed the rate of rotation of the Earth while producing a force/energy that gave the moon impetus to slowly achieve higher orbits. On a side note apparently due to the shape of the Earth if we did not have the moon to dampen the Earth's otherwise natural oscillations no life would have been possible.
At one point in our past the earth has been described as a Snowball, completely covered in ice. They say Volcanic action from Subduction zones caused a massive amount of CO2 to be emitted into the atmosphere
I am not sure this answers your question but a relatively small mass be it all the earth's oceans can affect rotation periods but while not affecting the earth's orbital period it can affect that of a close body such as the moon.
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Post by silverdragon on Jan 8, 2013 10:00:53 GMT
I understand all that.
However, there was a collision?...
We "know" that of our own Earths history. but say take a similar planet without that?...
It wont happen here, but, say it did...
Freeze the planet into a snowball again, complete ice age, will that affect rotational speed?... it is suggested that the Earth's rotation, by milliseconds a millennium, is affected by tidal actions caused by the moon....
Is that right?... how do we know?... is it "Theoretical" or do we have proof?....how valid is that proof?....
Is the Earths rotational speed slowing on its own anyway?.. does that happen to ALL planets anyway?... does the surface composition, solid or fluid, affect that speed of degradation of rotation?...
Ok, so, if we went all ice age, if it Melted again, how would that affect rotational speed?....
Is rotational speed affected by the presence of the moon (we suspect it is...) and how will the presence of the moon affect that, if the moon was NOT there, how would that affect the results?....
How does the atmosphere we have affect the known rotational speed of the whole planet-moon combination, and would having NO moon affect that?....
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Post by srmarti on Jan 8, 2013 17:23:56 GMT
I understand all that. However, there was a collision?... We "know" that of our own Earths history. but say take a similar planet without that?... It wont happen here, but, say it did... Freeze the planet into a snowball again, complete ice age, will that affect rotational speed?... it is suggested that the Earth's rotation, by milliseconds a millennium, is affected by tidal actions caused by the moon.... Is that right?... how do we know?... is it "Theoretical" or do we have proof?....how valid is that proof?.... Is the Earths rotational speed slowing on its own anyway?.. does that happen to ALL planets anyway?... does the surface composition, solid or fluid, affect that speed of degradation of rotation?... OK, so, if we went all ice age, if it Melted again, how would that affect rotational speed?.... Is rotational speed affected by the presence of the moon (we suspect it is...) and how will the presence of the moon affect that, if the moon was NOT there, how would that affect the results?.... How does the atmosphere we have affect the known rotational speed of the whole planet-moon combination, and would having NO moon affect that?.... Freeze it and the damping effect of tides goes away. The spin rate doesn't slow down as fast. Remelt is and the tidal effect's influence returns. All the stuff being asked here is pretty much known to science. The Moon does influence our spin rate and pretty much limits precession. |
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