If there is no gravity[or little gravity]in space then how does jupiter cause interferance in asteroid belt?

Question

If there is no gravity[or little gravity]in space then how does jupiter cause interferance in asteroid belt?

Answer 1

Gravity is universal and it's related to mass. Therefore a smaller body like the moon will exert a weaker gravitational pull, which is why astronauts "bounce" - but there's nowhere where gravity doesn't exist.

Answer 2

Who ever said there was no gravity in space?  It is gravity that holds the solar system together!  Gravity holds the Milky Way galaxy, and every other galaxy, together.  And gravity is even holding the known universe together!

The force of gravitational attraction is described by the following equation:

F = g*(M1*M2)/r²

where M1 and M2 are the masses of the two bodies in question, g is the gravitational constant, and r is the distance between their centers of mass.

Notice that the distance factor is squared.  That means that the force of gravitational attraction obeys the inverse square law -- if you double the distance between the two objects, the attractive force is ¼  the original.  So the greater the distance between the two objects, the smaller the force.  But it can never reach zero.

Jupiter, being such a massive object (the only thing more massive is the sun) has a huge gravitational attraction to every other object in the solar system.  But the distance and strength of the sun's gravity overwhelm most of those effects.

The asteroid belt, on the other hand, is much closer to Jupiter, and those objects are fairly small, so the relative attractions are more closely balanced.  

Still, the asteroid belt is in a fairly stable orbit around the Sun, not Jupiter . . .

Answer 3

There IS gravity in space, DA. Lots of it. Everywhere.

And to Archangel - That's not the Kuiper belt. The Kuiper belt is way out past Neptune. The belt between Mars and Jupiter is just called the asteroid belt. With people like you answering, it's no wonder this guy thinks there's no gravity in space. If you're going to answer science questions, you should know the right answers.

Answer 4

The force of gravity absolutely exists in space!

Its effect is diminished in proportion to the square of the distance between the objects (in this case, Jupiter and an asteroid), but the effect is still there.  In fact, each person on Earth also has gravity, and a negligible, though real, gravity effect on the asteroids as well.  The difference is the extremely high mass of Jupiter.

Force(gravity) = Gm1m2/r², where G is the universal gravitational constant, m1 & m2 are the masses of the two objects in question, and r is the distance between them.

Answer 5

There is gravity all over the universe. That's what makes it all stick together. Gravity is a function of the mass of an object. The greater the mass, the greater the gravitaional field. Jupiter has a massive mass and, yes, it can affect the Kuiper asteroid belt, which orbits the sun somewhere between Mars and Jupiter. In fact, Jupiter is the reason the Kuiper belt exists.

Answer 6

EVERYTHING has gravity. the moon has gravity, the sun has gravity, the earth has gravity, jupiter has gravity, YOU! have gravity, the desk in front of you has gravity. a single atom has gravity.

anything that has mass has gravity.

Answer 7

Gravity is everywhere, Jupiter has its own gravitational field, pulling things in e.g. rocks or debris.

Its big, so therefore a bigger grav. field strength. =]

Answer 8

It's important to realize that gravity is associated with "things"--objects that have mass, like planets, asteroids, even people.  If it's a thing, it has mass.  If it has mass, it has gravity.  You are right in thinking 'space' has no gravity, but that's true waaaaay out in space where there is no 'stuff'...no objects.

Think of a gravity field around each object in space...if you could see it, maybe it would be a kind of 'glow' around the object.  Between objects, no glow.

Answer 9

There is gravity in space. Gravity is what keeps the Moon orbiting Earth, and everything in the solar system orbiting the Sun. It's what keeps the shuttle and ISS in orbit.

I suspect you are getting confused because of the apparent 'zero gravity' experienced on a spacecraft, where you see astronauts floating around chasing water drops. That's not actually a lack of gravity, that's a result of the astronauts and shuttle all moving at the same rate in orbit. They are really all in freefall, falling around the Earth.