Why are all the stars and planets spherical and not an irregular shape or even square or rectangular in shape
[From: ] [author: ] [Date: 11-06-28] [Hit: ]
The entire surface is smoother than a sheet of glass..-A sphere is the lowest-energy shape there is.All the mass of an object being held within an equal radius.If you had an irregular shape - a cube, say - the corners are further from the center of mass than the center of the flat sides - so you have mass with potential energy.......
~ A neutron star. More massive than our sun but only about 12 kilometers in diameter, its surface gravity is so strong that it has no hills or valleys. The entire surface is smoother than a sheet of glass.
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A sphere is the lowest-energy shape there is. All the mass of an object being held within an equal radius. If you had an irregular shape - a cube, say - the corners are further from the center of mass than the center of the flat sides - so you have mass with potential energy. Just like the mountains here on Earth - a rock is likely to fall down the slope due to gravity, until it can't fall any more - releasing it's potential energy in the process.
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Every natural body with enough mass is round because it's the most energy efficient way to pack the maximum amount of volume within the smallest surface area possible. Any other shape requires more energy to retain that shape, like a mineral with an atomic crystal lattice. Atoms are round when all the electrons are in their lowest energy orbitals. Gravity is why any natural body with sufficient mass is round.
Stars are in hydrostatic balance between thermal AND radiative pressure forces working outward and gravitational force wording inward. Planets are in hydrostatic balance between pressure working inward and outward and gravitational force working inward.
You can prove this to yourself mathematically by figuring out the surface areas and volumes for a variety of 3-dimensional geometrical shapes. You'll probably have do the " what shape has the maximum volume with smallest surface area problem" in a first semester calculus and analytic geometry class in the United States.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;…
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As others stated, objects in space tend to assume a spherical shape. But stars is a different matter - stars, (besides our own Sun - which is also a star), are so far away that even if they were a different shape, we would be unable to see it even with a powerful telescope... they would still appear as pinpoints of light. But being huge gas balls, they will still be spherical in shape.
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Because gravity works in all directions.
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You have some good answers here. I was going to say that maybe space debris eroded the celestial bodies into essential round shapes. Guess I am wrong.
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gravity
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Because of gravity from the suns and moons
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In a word, gravity.
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