Re: ZetaTalk and Spaceguard UK

Greg Neill wrote:
>  Nancy Lieder wrote:
>> Greg Neill wrote:
>>> Nancy Lieder wrote:
>>>> Bill Nelson wrote:
>>>>> The planets are NOT "pulled inward" or "pulled outward".
>>>>> The gravitational attraction of the Sun is too great to
>>>>> allow that.
>>>>
>>>> I can see that it might be hard to pull a weighty planet
>>>> OUT away from the Sun, by this logic, but how about a
>>>> perturbation that might pull a weighty planet IN toward the
>>>> Sun.  Why would this not happen?
>>>
>>> Orbits of planets are stable because of a balance between the
>>> gravitational force of the Sun and the outward force due to
>>> inertia (what is referred to as the centrifugal force).  Under
>>> these conditions it takes about the same amount of effort to
>>> move a body inwards towards the Sun as outwards.
>>
>> What?  The balance of the equation is TIPPED if another large
>> body comes between it and the Sun.  MORE on the Sun side!
>
> Calculate the gravitational accleration on, say, Jupiter.  Then
> place the next nearest significant body, Mars, at its closest
> approach and calculate the acceleration of Jupiter caused by
> Mars.  Note the orders of magnitude difference.  It's like
> claiming that a kid with a pea shooter is going to knock an
> 18 wheeler off the freeway.

Excuse me, but if the planets can perturb each other to SPEED UP or SLOW
DOWN in their orbits, then there is sufficient influence to PULL IN
TOWARD THE SUN.  Why would there not be?  A steady erosion in toward the
Sun, which does not occur!  Rather than deal with this, you throw
insults and bluster!  Can’t put Greg and the truth on the same page
either, I take it.