What if Earth was tethered to Mars?

Question

Say the cable was indestructable, and that it was anchored so deep into both worlds it was impossible to rip it out.

Answer 1

The planets travel at very different velocities in their orbit around the sun, so that either:

1. the tether would break (causing both planets to slingshot away from each other)

2. the Earth, being much more massive and moving faster than Mars, would simply pull Mars out of its orbit and into a faster one.  That would either send Mars towards the sun or on a collision course with Earth.

Depending on the actual dynamics (and I don't have the detailed math to work it out), the tether could end up tangling with Earth, our moon, or even Venus - the tether would be at least 36 million miles long since that's the closest Mars gets to Earth.

Answer 2

I think the planets would orbit together or the thick steel cable would eventually break because the planets orbit at different speeds. That would be really weird.

I would have never thought of that.

Hope I helped :)

Answer 3

Well even if the cable was indestructible it would have to be attached to something. Whatever it is attached to whether it be a man made building or a mountain range it would all be ripped out. If we assumed both worlds were also indestructible than Both Mars and Earth would have their orbits changed.

Now I'm not a super computer, but I picture it like this. Earth and Mars are tethered as Earth passes closest to Earth. I see Mars getting dragged along and getting pulled into a closer orbit of the Sun by the more massive Earth. The Earth will get slowed and pulled a little higher. From their I think it might get really complex.

Check out this site for testing some physics scenarios... its cool

http://www.myphysicslab.com/

Answer 4

I would argue that the cable would NOT pull either planet into the sun nor out into the outer solar system, on the basis of conservation of angular momentum.  The cable cannot alter the angular momentum of the earth/mars system around the sun, since it (the cable) is an internal force (i.e. it always pulls oppositely on one planet compared to the other).  And since the angular momentum of the system as a whole doesn't change, the planets (as a pair) cannot plunge closer to the sun nor fling out farther from it.

If you attached the cable during the time of Martian opposition (when the earth & Mars are lined up on the same side of the sun), I believe what would happen is that the pair would start spinning like a bolo around their common center of mass.  The bolo would have the same orbital period as a hyptothetical planet at its center of mass, so that would be somewhere between earth's original year and mars's original year.

Eventually tidal forces would slow the spinning of the bolo, and then it would be continually oriented "lengthwise"; that is, on a line pointing toward the sun, with the earth (because it's heavier) always on the inside and mars always on the outside.  Each planet would then be more or less back in its original orbital path; except with a different speed than before, because each planet's orbital speed would be affected by the tension in the cable.

The moon would probably drop off the system.  At its current distance from the earth, the moon is actually attracted more strongly to the sun than to the earth.  The only reason it "sticks" with us is that we are both in freefall around the sun, which effectively cancels the sun's pull (just like astronauts feel weightless when they orbit the earth).  But if the earth is being pulled by a cable (and the moon isn't), the earth is no longer in freefall around the sun, and the moon will get yanked away and will fall into orbit around the sun.

Anyhow, that's my opinion.

Answer 5

I think the orbital paths (or what would be left of them) would eventually drawn one and ultimately both into the Sun. That or the conflicting forces would break the orbit and hurl both planets into space. I dunno...

Answer 6

the cable would break and basically nothing else