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3 body physics?
3 stars in motion in each other's gravity well/potentials...create a chaotic system which would eventually throw the odd 3rd star out of the system. What if all 3 stars were forced to be in the system, like having a gigantic toroidal magnet or sphere surrounding them...which keeps all them in place. What would happen? Would the stars increase in orbital velocity? Let's presume they don't smack into each other and maintain safe distances, as they move about.
Sort of like a complex pendulum question.
Thanks Fred, but I will rephrase: the 3 bodies all have equal mass/size.
The Earth/moon/Sun system isn't really valid, since there are 8 other planets involved as well. An isolated system is what must be scene here, not a system within a system. thanks.
If equilbrium is achieved, then what would cause the equilibrium? :) hehe
2 Answers
- Universal MindLv 41 decade agoFavorite Answer
I'M going to say theoretically that they increase orbital velocity maybe to a state of equilibrium. But they might no change velocity at all maybe who knows. Maybe this little cool mechanism would work: http://www.upscale.utoronto.ca/GeneralInterest/Har...
- getfreducatedLv 61 decade ago
Three bodies can move in harmony and do not constitute a chaotic system. The math has no closed form solution, but the bodies can co-exist quite nicely...hummmm...where have I seen a three body system before...wait....don't tell me...I GOT IT: The Sun, Earth, and Moon!! Cool!!
Now we don't have to consider the "what if" scenario in your question because your major assumption is amiss.
-Fred
