Is it possible for planets to be a shape other than a sphere?

Question

For example, if Earth was a cube, would humans be able to live on it? Can it even exist?

Answer 1

A sphere is the most compact shape in nature, and other shapes take energy to form. Although cubes and donuts are curious to see, they wouldn't occur at planet-size.

Answer 2

  There is no know material strong enough to allow a planet to be any other shape than a sphere.

Answer 3

No, (unless you state that the oblatness of the planets makes them "non-spheres) because one of the qualifications to fit the definition of a planet is it must be spherical.  This is one of the reasons why the asteroids do not qualify.  Except Ceres, which is technically a "dwarf planet" (I hate that term) because it is spherical, but lacks dominace over it's orbit (another requirement for the current classifaction of "planet.")

Answer 4

well i'm not entirely sure if planets can be other shapes... i think once an object gets large enough to be a planet the rules of physics say it must conform itsself into a sphere...

i garuntee you'll never find a cubed planet, atleast not one that mother nature made... straight lines aren't really present in nature... more or less staight is a human invention. (some things could appear to be straight, from distances but if you get close enough you'll always find curves.)

Answer 5

The truth is, even the Earth is not a perfect sphere but more of an obalte spheriod -- a sphere-like shape but somewhat flatter on the north and south poles. This is so because as theplanet rotates at such high speed, the poles flatten and the middle portion bulges. This event may be true to other planets as well.

Answer 6

No.

Answer 7

Planets are too big to be any other shape than (mostly) spherical. It's because gravity pulls on a planet's mass equality in all directions from the centre, and this creates a sphere.

Asteroids and some planets' moons are small enough not to be affected by their own gravity that much, so they can be irregular shape. Good examples are Phobos and Deimos, the two moons of Mars.

Answer 8

First off, planets aren't perfect spheres. Just wanted to make sure we were on the same page there.

Okay, planets cannot be in any other shape besides a near perfect sphere or they wouldn't be considered planets. The IAU has set a list of criteria a celestial body needs to meet in order for it to be considered a planet:

* It must orbit a star.

* It must be the largest object in its orbit. -- by this they didn't mean it had to be the largest object in the solar system, they just meant it had to be the largest object in ITS OWN orbit.

*It must be clear of smaller objects. -- it can't be in an asteroid belt.

*IT MUST OBTAIN HYDROSTATIC EQUILIBRIUM!!! --This is the main point in your question.

Hydrostatic equilibrium is when the pressure inside the planet pushing outwards, and the planet's own gravity pushing inwards are balanced. When this happens, it is shaped into the most compact shape of the universe, a sphere. If an object were a cube, it couldn't be considered a planet. So there's a technicality there.

But if the Earth was in the shape of a cube, then no, humans could not live on it. First of all it wouldn't rotate causing one side to be very hot, and the other to be very cold.

Another problem is that there would be EXTREME earth quakes and volcanic eruptions because of this odd shape. Nothing would mesh... our planet would be in a state of havoc.

And lastly, it is impossible for any object to be a perfect cube. It would have to be shaped that way through impact and a rock that big with a core and a mantle would eventually take an oblong shape.

Answer 9

I'm not sure about this but I don't think so. I think the shape of a planet has something to do with the gravitational force that holds it in one piece.

Answer 10

Most planets aren't spheres - take a look at jupiter it is very obviously flattened at the poles. The equatorial diameter of the earth is also noticibly larger then the Polar.

Answer 11

No because a sphere is the most agreeable shape for planets to have in terms of astrophysics.  

Answer 12

While not perfectly round Because of  spinning. Gravity causes planets to be round. The Earth will most likely never have a mountain bigger the Mt Everest. because it will flatten itself and spread out. If we had less gravity, it could get higher. Normal gravity pulls in from all directions so as even the Earth picks up junk from space and gets bigger, it stays round. The asteroids or rocks, if they pick up enough debris will get to be a better shape of round as their gravity will increase with their mass. Try to pile up sand and you will see eventually the pile gets no bigger. use dry sand.

Answer 13

Any mass greater than about 500 miles in diameter will form a sphere (roughly) due to gravity.

Answer 14

Yes and no.

Most planets aren't exact spheres, so that would be a yes.

OTOH hand, as defined by the IAU:

"A planet is a celestial body that (a) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (b) is in orbit around a star, and is neither a star nor a satellite of a planet."

If it isn't roughly a sphere, it's not a planet.

Answer 15

The Earth is not a true sphere because of the spin.  If the earth were to spin faster it would "flatten".

If a planet had no spin and was still in an orbit, it could become convex"ish" if the orbit was fast enough, like a ping pong ball cut in half. this is similar to spinning a bucket of water over your head.