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
Jupiter is 317 times more massive than Earth, which means that its gravitational force is 317 times stronger than that of the Earth.
One would then expect, all else equal, that the vast majority of random objects flying through space that don’t hit the sun would be far more likely to hit Jupiter than Earth.
Surface gravity here is a red herring.
The reason why the surface gravity of Jupiter is only 2.5x Earth is because the “surface” in that measurement is much further from the core of Jupiter than the Earth’s surface is from earth’s core.
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