3 ms·
When I was in grad school in astronomy, one of my professors told me "many a promising young researcher has run their career aground on the rocky shores of tide
by antognini 1y ago
When I was in grad school in astronomy, one of my professors told me "many a promising young researcher has run their career aground on the rocky shores of tides."
The mathematics involved in the theory of tides are formidable. Even in homogeneous, tidally locked systems things can get complicated very quickly.
But tides are nevertheless very important. One two objects pass very close to each other, tidal effects are substantial and can actual destroy one of the objects: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_disruption_event https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_disruption_event
- zabzonk 1y agodestruction (or nearly) via tidal mechanics happens in several of larry niven's short sf stories
- ghaff 1y agoAs I recall there were issues with the math in Neutron Star though still a very good story.
- hinkley 1y agoThere’s been some backpedaling lately in the astrophysics community about whether a tidally locked planet could still maintain an atmosphere and potentially support life. More modeling on how such at atmosphere might work has turned from “no” to “maybe”.
- Sharlin 1y agoSee also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roche_limit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roche_limit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roche_lobe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roche_lobe Indeed given that we now think most of the heavy elements in the universe were created in type 1a mass-transfer supernovae, we can ultimately thank tidal phenomena for the existence of things like rocky planets and humans.