🌌 Will Pluto and Neptune Collide? The Truth Behind Chaos in Our Solar System! 🪐

 year is 1988. Two American scientists published a paper

named Numerical Evidence that the Motion of Pluto is Chaotic. In this paper, they clearly

claimed that due to Pluto's chaotic orbit, other planets' orbits can go haywire.

And to verify this, when I myself put this paper into a simulation software and tried it, you can

see for yourself what we got. There are two points in the path of Pluto when it intersects the

orbit of Neptune. That is, if these two reach these intersection points at the same time, then the

collision is certain.

Now mind you, this collision will not be small. A complete chain reaction will start from here,

which will bring our entire solar system back to square one. Just to give you an idea, after this

collision, the only thing left in the solar system will be the sun and the remains of all the dead

planets around it.

And I am not even exaggerating. So it's really like a ticking time bomb. Now friends, instead of

getting emotional here, a little rationally, a little logically, let's see, let's calculate what the

situation is and can this collision really happen? And if there is a collision, how strong and

powerful will it be? So first of all, let's start with a simulation with the help of which you were

convinced that yes, Pluto will collide.

So see, first of all, if we look at this simulation from a different perspective, then the most

obvious thing that comes to the fore is that Pluto's orbit looks two-dimensionally cutting

Neptune's orbit. But three-dimensionally, we can clearly see that Pluto's orbit is very tilted as

compared to the other planets. As tilted as 17 degrees.

And if you look at it a little closely, then it does not intersect Neptune's orbit anywhere. Second

thing, when Pluto and Neptune's orbits are closest to each other, then there is a distance of 2.5

AU, i.e. astronomical unit, between them. This is the distance, by the way, 2.5 times more than

the distance between the sun and the earth.

That is, if you look at this claim a little closely, then the chances of collision are not at all visible.

So this proves that there are equal chances of Pluto and Neptune colliding. But still, hold up.

The numbers I am telling you with so much confidence, anyone can raise a question on them.

Because the thing is, after Pluto's discovery, no one has ever seen Pluto's complete orbit. So

how did we find out about Pluto's orbit so accurately? Well, to study any planet's orbit, it does

not need to be fully observed.

If we find out the mass and angular velocity of that planet, then all information about the

planet's orbit can be obtained. Thanks to Kepler's laws by German mathematician and

astronomer Johannes Kepler, with the help of which we were able to find out the orbits of most

of the planets. Kepler published the three laws of his planetary motions in the 17th century,

with the help of which we can easily study the path of any celestial object today.

So for your knowledge, let me explain these three laws in simple words. The first law is that all

planets revolve around the Sun in an elliptical path. You see, during Kepler's time, astronomers

thought that all celestial objects of the solar system follow a circular path around the Sun.

But Kepler, with his own observations, theoretically and mathematically proved that all celestial

objects do not revolve in a circular, but in an elliptical orbit. Now there are two properties of an

elliptical orbit. First, just like there is a center of a circle, there are two focal points of an ellipse.

Now if we observe all the planets of our solar system, then the Sun is at one focal point of their

elliptical orbit, as you can see over there. Similarly, the second law is also very easy. According

to Kepler's second law, any celestial object covers equal areas in its orbit at equal intervals.

Let's understand this a little visually through a thought experiment. Imagine a planet revolving

around the Sun in an elliptical orbit. So now, as we all know, due to the gravitational pull of the

Sun, when any planet moves away from the Sun, its velocity decreases, and when it is close to

the Sun, its velocity increases.

Exactly this concept explains Kepler's second law. So now, imagine that the planet is farthest

from our Sun. So basically, if we draw a line from the planet to the Sun, and then draw another

line after a specific interval, then we will get a triangular region.

The area of that triangular region, and then in the same interval, when we perform the same

experiment from the closest point to the Sun, then the area of that triangular region, these two

areas will be exactly the same. And this is what Kepler's second law. And now finally, let's come

to the most important and most widely used Kepler's third law.

To understand this, let's first understand the properties of an ellipse. So look, there are two

axes of an ellipse. One is the major axis, and the other is the minor axis.

When we divide the main center of the ellipse into two parts, then we will get a semi-major and

a semi-minor axis. So far, you are with me? Great! Now, if we look at the time period of the total

revolution of a planet, then that time period is directly proportional to the semi-major axis.

Now, how? Well, with the help of this formula.

Now, if I want to tell you how it came, then it will become a whole different video. So for now,

let's just follow this formula. So there you go.

We have been studying the orbits of planets using these laws for years. Using these laws, any

celestial object's orbit can be defined. For example, take the case of our Earth.

All we need is the orbital period of the Earth's mass and the revolve of the Sun. If we only know

this much, then with the help of this formula, we can find out the value of the semi-major axis

of the Earth's orbit. And if we get that, then it becomes very easy to get the elliptical shape of

the Earth's orbit.

So now you will probably believe me that neither is Pluto going to collide with Neptune, nor is

the solar system going to be destroyed by any chain reaction. We can now completely trust

Kepler's laws and relax. Or maybe no.

In 2009, two scientists thought of making a simulation using Kepler's law. In which they

planned to study the orbital evolution for 5 billion years. In this simulation, they only changed a

small parameter.

They reduced the distance from the Sun to Mercury by just 1 mm. Now, what do you think?

What would have happened? Mostly nothing, right? The universe is so big, what happens with 1

mm? But here, you are wrong. With just a small change, our entire solar system became so

chaotic.

Like literally, either Mercury was going into the Sun, or it was colliding with Venus, or all our

inner planets were colliding with each other and getting destroyed. And with this simulation,

we can conclude that all Kepler's laws give perfect results for short intervals, but they don't

work in longer intervals. So are Kepler's laws wrong? Well, not exactly.

You see, Kepler made his laws keeping two body problems in mind. Again, a technical word, but

don't worry. Let's understand this in simple words.

See, from Kepler to Newton, everyone considered two main objects while making their laws. For

example, Sun and Earth, and Sun and Mercury, and Mars and Earth. And that's why we can

accurately predict the interaction between two objects.

But if we add an extra object to it, then the predictability of these laws goes away in long

intervals because the system becomes very complicated. Let's understand this with an

experiment. You must have heard about the simple pendulum.

When I take it to an end and release it, we can easily predict its path. We can even predict its

velocity, potential and kinetic energy, time period, and everything else to get a complete chart.

But let's do one thing.

Let's add another pendulum below this simple pendulum. And again, if we similarly bring it to

one end and drop it, then see what actually happens. We can't predict where the second object

will actually go and what its further path will be.

And the same thing happens on our cosmic scale. If we consider Sun, Mercury and Earth

together and try to calculate their influence on each other, then we can't accurately predict it.

And this is called the three-body problem in physics.

This is the biggest unsolved problem in physics to date. And this is the reason why in 2009,

scientists couldn't accurately simulate the entire solar system. Yes, if we connect all the planets

individually to the Sun and try to predict their path, then we get the results of stable orbits.

But it's not like there are only two objects in the entire solar system. In fact, according to the

observations so far, if we add the small asteroids and comets of Kuiper belt and Oort cloud,

then the total number of celestial objects in the entire solar system will be more than billions

and trillions. So when we are not able to accurately predict the motion of three celestial objects,

then it becomes almost impossible to make an accurate simulation of the entire solar system.

Now friends, in today's date, we may not be able to accurately predict the system with more

than two bodies, but for now, for short intervals, Kepler's laws really work well. And with their

help, today we are able to successfully send satellite missions to many planets. The only

difference is time, how long do we have to predict the motion.