Originally posted by kbaumen People are trying integration 'n' stuff here while I consider the elementary school way much more simple, though longer.
First of all we have to calculate the gravitational force between the spheres. F = (G * m1 * m2) / R ^ 2; (G is the gravitational constant) F = (6.7 * 10^-11 * 1 * 1) / 1 ^ 2 = 6.7 * 10^-11 N. The distance between surfaces is 1 - 2 * 0. ...[text shortened]... e calculations I did where quickly scribbled without any thorough checking. I know I'm lazy.
The force between spheres, and therefore the acceleration is not constant! That is why we have to use some calculus!
Originally posted by PBE6 Hmmm, having a little trouble finding a solution. I can't seem to find examples of ordinary differential equations of the forms:
x^2 * d^2(x)/dt^2 = k
or:
d^2(x)/dt^2 = k/x^2
Couldn't find an explicit solution, but I did run a simple Excel program and it came out to about 75 hours, using a time step of 135 seconds.
Originally posted by PBE6 Couldn't find an explicit solution, but I did run a simple Excel program and it came out to about 75 hours, using a time step of 135 seconds.
I tremble to think what I guy like you could do with some software like Mathematica, or MatLab... I really do.
Edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scilab see if you like this software and please install it. I'm guessing you'd have lots of fun with it.
Originally posted by PBE6 I downloaded it last night! It looks a little complicated, I'm definitely going to have to spend some time with it and learn it.
Thanks! 😀
But I really do tremble while thinking what you can do with a software like that. If you have some kind of access to free Mathematica I'd avise you to install it. I think you could do wonders with it. Really!