Re: Venus?

[Gary Karshner <gkarshner@STMARYTX.EDU>]

Paul,
        If memory serves one of the curiosities of Venus rotation and
revolution is that the same side of the planet faces the Earth each time it
passes us. The tidal forces are far far to small to cause this effect
unlike the cases of Mercury and the Sun or the Earth and the Moon or for
that matter most Moons of most planets.
        Also remember that most torques don't simply change rotation
rates, it is the tidal friction that synchronized the moon's rotational and
revolutionary periods. Mercury is a little more curious in that in its
elliptical orbit it present one face or the opposite face each time it
reaches perihelion.
        The principle effects of the moon torque is the precession of the
Moon's orbit and of the Earth's pole. Not the slowing of the Earth's rotation.

Gary
At 08:41 AM 1/31/03 -0600, you wrote:
> How would the sudden appearance of Venus in a nearby orbit exert a torque on
> Earth to change its rotation rate?
>
> What would exert the torque necessary for Earth's rotation rate to return to
> its pre-Venus value?
>
> Dr. Paul O. Johnson
> Senior Exhibit Developer
> The Science Place
> Dallas  Texas
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> > At 12:22 AM -0700 1/30/03, Jim Green wrote:
> >
> > >Stop laughing for a second and think if there is even the remotest
> > >possibility that this Venus story has any basis in science of any kind.
> > >
> > >Now continue laughing.
> > >
> > >Comments?
> > >
> > >Jim Green
> > >mailto:JMGreen@sisna.com
> > >http://users.sisna.com/jmgreen