"If the force of gravity were reduced 50 percent, how would this change stars and the universe?
This is a complicated question because so many physical factors that describe stars and the universe are intertwined and rely on the value of 'G'.
Stars would get much larger in mass given the speeds of the particles that they contain. The core energy of these stars would be lower because there would be less gravitational potential energy per gram of mass to cause central temperatures to become very large. The stars would be more distended because radiation pressure would support the overlying stellar mass to much larger distances.
For some systems such as planets orbiting stars, or stars orbiting each other, the objects can become unbound and the parts can actually fly away because at a given distance, the orbital speed of the objects would now exceed the escape velocity for the system.
The Earth orbits the Sun at a speed that is just under the escape velocity from the Sun at this distance by a factor of about 40%. If the force of gravity was halved, its speed would be exactly the escape speed. In fact, any body orbiting in a circular orbit would become unbound if the force of gravity was reduced by a factor of two!"
http://www.astronomycafe.net/qadir/q2482.html
Well the above statement as far as I can see is not strictly true for there would still be gravity and the body moving apart would once again lose KE and this would limit their velocity and hence a new equilibrium would be established. But it would be wise for me to test the maths of this too.
Orbital energy stays the same but vary G and see what happens to "r" (the distance apart) of two massive bodies.
Can anyone see where I'm going wrong with the following?
Orbital energy stays the same but vary G and see what happens to "r" (the distance apart) of two massive bodies.
Total orbital Energy (TE) = PE + KE
now the PE = negative whereas KE is positive but the absolute value of PE = 2 KE
So TE is going to be negative.
Formula for TE = -GM1M2/2r = -G_2m1M2/2r_2 (conservation of Energy) so in fact to my surprise if G were to get smaller r or the semi major axis gets smaller too. Now that is surprising to me too. For I thought the masses would separate if G force got weaker but no they go closer to each other instead?
Is that really the case?
Energy stays the same but G declines (ascending order)
Gravitational Constant, ,Orbital radius
6.67384E-12, , 180401636.4
1.33477E-11, , 360803272.7
2.00215E-11, , 541204909.1
2.66954E-11, , 721606545.5
3.33692E-11, , 902008181.8
4.0043E-11 , , 1082409818
4.67169E-11, , 1262811455
5.33907E-11, , 1443213091
6.00646E-11, , 1623614727
6.67384E-11, , 1804016364
So that proves it but I still don't understand that at all!
So what would make the system fly apart as comment above suggested?
Is it twice the Kinetic energy? But where is that going to come from or is it increasing G rather than reducing it?
After testing higher G - No increasing G whilst keeping the total energy the same just made the "r" get larger. Whereas to me making the force of gravity stronger you would think things would orbit closer with the same amount of energy. But not according to the total orbital energy formula.