I was taught years ago that one of the many conditions that make the Earth stable enough for complex life is that our “big brother” Jupiter works as a vacuum cleaner, clearing out wayward comets and asteroids from the inner solar system so fewer of them have a chance to contact Earth. Makes sense, Jupiter is big.
I recently learned, however, that Jupiter’s “surface gravity” is only 2.5x that of the Earth. No offense to Jupiter, but that feels less like a Kirby and more like a Swiffer.
Is there some different measurement of gravity (other than “surface gravity) that I’m not aware of that’s doing the heavy lifting? Or is it possible that in another, hypothetically similar solar system, a rocky planet 2.5x the size of earth positioned roughly the same distance Jupiter is from Earth would do the same “vacuuming” work?
In: 1661
The gravitation on the surface depends on the distance from the center of the planet and has nothing to do with the gravitational effect the planet has in his system.
Jupiter is more than 317 times heavier than earth and because of this he attracts 317 times more the earth.
The gravitational acceleration on the surface of the sun is also only 30 times stronger that of the earth while the sun is 333.000 times heavier than the earth.
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