1. Subscribersonhouse
    Fast and Curious
    slatington, pa, usa
    Joined
    28 Dec '04
    Moves
    53223
    11 Mar '06 04:21
    Since all this news about Encaledus I was going over a data sheet
    about Saturn and these three lines struck me as odd:
    Gravity (eq., 1 bar) (m/s2) 10.44 9.80 1.065
    Acceleration (eq., 1 bar) (m/s2) 8.96 9.78 0.916
    Escape velocity (km/s) 35.5 11.19 3.172
    The first figure is the gravity of Saturn, then earth then the ratio between the two. You see gravity and acceleration as nearly equal to earths but then you look at the escape velocity and you see Saturn has an escape velocity of three times that of earth. How can that be?
  2. Subscribersonhouse
    Fast and Curious
    slatington, pa, usa
    Joined
    28 Dec '04
    Moves
    53223
    11 Mar '06 05:55
    Well I let my rusty neurons grind on it for a while and came to the
    conclusion the one bar figure must be the key. It must represent
    the gravity at the depth in Saturn's atmosphere that is the same
    pressure as earth's at sea level but that point on Saturn would be
    way up from the 'surface' but lower down it would be three times
    greater gravitation. But if you were at the one bar depth wouldn't the
    escape velocity still be about the same as earth? It seems it would
    have to be.
  3. Joined
    24 Nov '05
    Moves
    1113
    12 Mar '06 23:54
    I think the grater mass has something to do with it
  4. Joined
    11 Nov '05
    Moves
    43938
    13 Mar '06 08:39
    This is how to calculate the escape velocity
    v = sqrt(2*G*M/R
    and the gravitation
    g = G*M/R^2
    where
    v = escape velocity [m/s],
    g = gravitation [m/s^2],
    M = mass of the planet [kg],
    R = distance from its center or radius [m] and
    G = gravitational constant = 6.673x10^-11

    Now you can test different planets and moons and even the sun itself.

    If you calculate the density of Saturn by dividing its mass with its volume you'll find that its density is very low - even less than water, and therefore its radius is larger than it should be if it just was a rocky planet like the Earth.
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