ABSTRACT

The motion of planets has long been explained simply with the law of gravity.  This works well for moons and planets that have been going around for a long time.  It does not explain how the planets and moons got to their present state.  We have not included the effects of magnetic forces on the motion of orbiting, rotating bodies.  This paper speculates on the effect magnetic fields may have on orbiting planetary bodies. 

 

1         a large homopolar motor

A conductive sphere rotating in a gradient magnetic field can absorb energy from the magnetic field.  The sun and larger planetary bodies have magnetic fields that extend out into space.  The orbiting planets, or moons, rotate in and orbit their parent immersed in the spherically gradient magnetic field of the parent.  Over time, electrical energy would be extracted from the magnetic field by rotation and orbital motion.  Electric current would be generated in the inner conductive layers of the body.  An induced magnetic field would be set up around the body.  Some of he electric current would be dissipated in the electrical resistance of the inner conductive layers of the rotating body. This would cause the rotational speed of the body to slowly decrease, and the conductive inner layers to heat. 

 

2         Induced fields

I believe this explains several effects.  The first is planetary magnetic fields.  A conductive sphere rotating in a magnetic field generates an opposing magnetic field.  The Earth spins in the Sun’s magnetic field, generates electric current within the core, which causes a magnetic field to be set up around the Earth.  The Earth’s magnetic field then follows closely the characteristics of the Sun’s field.  Our Moon, in turn, rotates and orbits in the composite field generated by the Sun and the Earth. 

 

3         Synchronous rotation

Bodies such as our Moon and Mercury show the same face to the parent all the time.  Over a long time, the magnetic braking would bring small bodies to a stable point when the rotational and orbital speeds match.  At this point, the body would be at rest in the spherical magnetic field generated by the parent, electrical generation would cease, the body would cool, and volcanic activity would soon stop. 

 

4         Volcanism

This may also explain volcanism.  There has been plenty of time for the Earth and other bodies to dissipate their creational thermal energy.  The bodies are not gaining enough heat from the Sun or other natural radiation sources to account for the inner core temperatures needed for volcanation at this time in their life.  And, volcanic heat moves from the inside out.  Radiant heat would move from the outside in. 

 

5         Orbital effects

Most of the bodies around the Sun lie roughly in one plane, and their orbits are very nearly circular.  A body orbiting a parent with a magnetic field would be pushed around by the magnetic field if the axis of its orbit were not parallel to the axis of the parent’s magnetic field.  It would also be pushed around if the orbit were not circular.  The combination effect of the magnetic interaction, gravitational force, and gyroscopic action, then, would be to circularize the orbits of the planets and bring them into a common plane perpendicular to the axis of the magnetic field.  There are exceptions, such as Pluto, but these may be bodies captured later in the life of the Solar system whose orbits haven’t had as much time to regress. 

 

6         Energy Conservation

Note, too, that gravity, magnetic attraction and repulsion, and gyroscopic action are adiabatic.  The basic energy of the planet should remain constant.  The only lossy part is the resistive heating of the core.  The rotational and orbital energy in the final, stable circular orbit will be almost identical to the initial kinetic and potential energy the body held when captured by the parent. 

 

7         Coupling between many bodies

The converse of this is also true.  Although the Sun’s magnetic field dominates, the rotating, orbiting planets would have a stabilizing effect on its magnetic field.  The magnetic field of the Sun, planets, and moons then becomes more the magnetic field of the complete solar system. Disruptions would occur when a rapidly rotating, distant body moved through the Solar system.  Note, too, that our galaxy is nearly circular and planar.  There may be a galactic magnetic field that would be very weak due to the distances. 

 

8         Conclusion

This two-part model may better explain not only the present motion of the orbiting bodies, but also how the bodies came together to their present orderly structure. 

 

 

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

MARK P. GRIMES is a Systems Engineer for the Phantom Works division of The Boeing Company.  He has A BS in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University (1981) and an M.S. in Systems Engineering from The University of Missouri, Rolla (2004).    His business interests include instrumentation radar, plasma sciences, magnetohydrodynamic power generation, active denial technology, and hypersonic vehicles.  His personal interests include Amateur Radio, horseback riding, and tinkering.  He is a member of IEEE and the ARRL and vice president of the Boeing Employees Amateur Radio Society, Saint Louis.  His email address is <wa0top(a symbol goes here)qsl.net>.