Shared flowchart

Astronomy · L4 · From differential gravity to tidal locking

Sign in to clone

The causal chain from differential gravity, through tidal bulges and torque, to synchronous rotation.

by @openstemUpdated Astronomy
Differential gravityacross an extended body(a_tidal ∝ 2GMR/d³)Tidal bulge raisedon near and far sidesInternal friction lagsthe bulge behind rotationMisaligned bulge exertstorque on the perturberAngular momentum exchangedbetween spin and orbitSynchronous rotation(tidal locking)Is body insidethe Roche limit?Self-gravity overwhelmedBody disrupted into ring/fragmentsSelf-gravity holdsBody remains intactYesNo

We use privacy-friendly product analytics (no session recording, PII masked) to improve OpenStem. Load analytics? Privacy Policy