Silly question , maybe... But why does Mercury have so many craters if it's so close to the Sun? Shouldn't any wandering meteor gravitate towards the Sun instead of hitting Mercury?
No, mercury still has a local hill sphere where its gravity is greater than the sun. If this weren't the case then Mercury would be ripped apart and fall into the sun
Will Mercury's rotation eventually slow until it's tidally locked with one side of the planet always facing the Sun as it travels along it's eccentric orbit? I don't know the orbital/ rotational mechanics well enough to know how tidal locking occurs.
if I recall correctly, its orbit is too elliptical to let full tidal locking occur. But the 3/2 spin-orbital resonance mentioned in this video is actually (if I recall correctly) caused by the same principles So mercury is kind of tidally locked, but without the 1/1 spin-orbit resonance of something like our moon. (I could be misremembing something though, so definitely don't just take my word for it. I'm by no means an expert, just a science enthusiast)
well it's very difficult to do! but people all over the world are working on it and making incredible progress. it's terribly underfunded, but if we can get it going, it will literally solve all of the world's energy problems.
There's no such thing as being too close to the Sun to have an atmosphere. Mercury's distance from the Sun is similar to Earth's distance in astronomical terms, and it could easily have an atmosphere if it had a magnetic field to hold the atmosphere in place.
Um, no. Mercury's orbital radius is not similar to Earth's. That's a ridiculous statement. A magnetic field does not "hold an atmosphere in place". If you're going to watch my astronomy tutorials, try learning something in the process.
@@ForeverStill_Fan1 whoops. Sorry this was an old comment and I forgot what video it was on. Anyways this was just some old failed b8 that I managed to fuck up further by hastily responding.
@@ForeverStill_Fan1 yeah lol. I posted a bunch of these comments around the time when all the hype was calming down just to try to get people like you but I forgot about this one on mercury. Smh. This coulda been a good one sorry to waste your time lol
@@ForeverStill_Fan1 lol thanks but the misspelling is part of the bait. The whole point is to sound like some idiot that doesnt know what theyre talking about and the little details like that really make it less obvious. I do this too much haha
@@CaptainCuttlefish74 and it was absurd when certain people thought Earth was round and went around the Sun. Have you ever wondered why Earth and Venus are considered twins and why the Moon and Mercury are almost identical?
@@CaptainCuttlefish74 Well everything in our solar system orbits the sun. Mercury co orbits Venus and the sun similarly to how the moon co orbits Earth and the sun it just behaves differently due to its proximity to the sun.
Absolutely underrated. Thank you for such a high density of clear, intelligent content
I would like to thank you professor. Your video on quantum fluctuation helped me a lot in my college project 😇
Well actually there is an atmosphere on Mercury, but it’s mass is only about 10 metric tons (tonnes).
totally awesome vid, thanks Dave! :)
I love the universe the more I watch these videos
Make more physics videos
done with physics for a while, working on biomedical stuff!
Sir please give veduo on Optical isomers
Another unexpected interesting thing about this seemingly dead and boring world. It's affected by space time warping.
Mercury could be considered the confirmation of general relativity, more so than anything else!
Silly question , maybe...
But why does Mercury have so many craters if it's so close to the Sun?
Shouldn't any wandering meteor gravitate towards the Sun instead of hitting Mercury?
No, mercury still has a local hill sphere where its gravity is greater than the sun. If this weren't the case then Mercury would be ripped apart and fall into the sun
Will Mercury's rotation eventually slow until it's tidally locked with one side of the planet always facing the Sun as it travels along it's eccentric orbit? I don't know the orbital/ rotational mechanics well enough to know how tidal locking occurs.
if I recall correctly, its orbit is too elliptical to let full tidal locking occur.
But the 3/2 spin-orbital resonance mentioned in this video is actually (if I recall correctly) caused by the same principles
So mercury is kind of tidally locked, but without the 1/1 spin-orbit resonance of something like our moon.
(I could be misremembing something though, so definitely don't just take my word for it. I'm by no means an expert, just a science enthusiast)
@@CaptainCuttlefish74 Thanks!!!
GR
Why Nuclear Fusion is not up to the mark as Fission does?
up to what mark?
@@ProfessorDaveExplains I mean that it is not widely used and developed compared to nuclear Fission.
well it's very difficult to do! but people all over the world are working on it and making incredible progress. it's terribly underfunded, but if we can get it going, it will literally solve all of the world's energy problems.
@@ProfessorDaveExplains Does fission ever occur in nature?
@@cgaccount3669 yes. blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/natures-nuclear-reactors-the-2-billion-year-old-natural-fission-reactors-in-gabon-western-africa/
Ice was discovered at the poles of Mercury.
Is planet Mercury just a name or is derived from the composition of element mercury ?
It's named after the Roman god.
@@ProfessorDaveExplains thanks for clarification sir.
💯💯🖖
It's hot there
Professor Dave How Did You Grow Your Hair Soon ?😲😲😲😲😲😲😲
Memory:the
By the way I'm first
There's no such thing as being too close to the Sun to have an atmosphere. Mercury's distance from the Sun is similar to Earth's distance in astronomical terms, and it could easily have an atmosphere if it had a magnetic field to hold the atmosphere in place.
Um, no. Mercury's orbital radius is not similar to Earth's. That's a ridiculous statement. A magnetic field does not "hold an atmosphere in place". If you're going to watch my astronomy tutorials, try learning something in the process.
@@ProfessorDaveExplains thank you !
How dare you called Mercury the smallest planet you sell out :P
I cant believe they found life on such an inhospitable planet
@@ForeverStill_Fan1 I mean it did make headlines. Did you serious miss that? They found phosphene in the atmosphere.
@@ForeverStill_Fan1 whoops. Sorry this was an old comment and I forgot what video it was on. Anyways this was just some old failed b8 that I managed to fuck up further by hastily responding.
@@ForeverStill_Fan1 yeah lol. I posted a bunch of these comments around the time when all the hype was calming down just to try to get people like you but I forgot about this one on mercury. Smh. This coulda been a good one sorry to waste your time lol
@@ForeverStill_Fan1 lol thanks but the misspelling is part of the bait. The whole point is to sound like some idiot that doesnt know what theyre talking about and the little details like that really make it less obvious. I do this too much haha
Can I have a shoutout?
I had a gay friend Daren Evans that looks just like this guy.....kind of funny.
You should say mercury is an interior planet. That is the right word.
Innermost, meaning closest to the middle.
You mean inferior not interior.
Mercury is not a planet but the moon to Venus.
Um, no.
that's absurd
@@CaptainCuttlefish74 and it was absurd when certain people thought Earth was round and went around the Sun. Have you ever wondered why Earth and Venus are considered twins and why the Moon and Mercury are almost identical?
@@tobymurray1992 but mercury demonstrably orbits the sun, not venus.
@@CaptainCuttlefish74 Well everything in our solar system orbits the sun. Mercury co orbits Venus and the sun similarly to how the moon co orbits Earth and the sun it just behaves differently due to its proximity to the sun.