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?
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> Jupiter’s “surface gravity” is only 2.5x that of the Earth
“Surface gravity” on a planet like Jupiter is kinda meaningless because there is no “surface” (that isn’t some fairly arbitrary definition).
It’s possible you’re misremembering your statistics.
More likely, this is what you learned: Jupiter’s mass is 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System *combined.* [source:Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_mass)
The Sun makes up 99.85% of the total mass in the Solar System.
The Sun is 1st; Jupiter, a very distant 2nd; everything else, basically debris.
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