Re: celestial momentum farce

[John Denker <jsd@MONMOUTH.COM>]

At 10:02 AM 8/20/99 +0100, Ludwik Kowalski asked about the travesty:
> > ... The sun contains most of the mass, but only 2% of the
> > angular momentum of the solar system. If the solar system
> > had condensed from a gas cloud, most of its angular
> > momentum would be in the sun.

Let's see.

  1) My brother-in-law lives near Jupiter.  When he calculates the masses,
velocities, and lever-arms relative to a datum in his laboratory, he finds
that virtually none of the angular momentum is in Jupiter;  the sun is
massive and speedy and distant, so it contains virtually all of the angular
momentum;  there is also a small contribution from Saturn, plus various
other nits and gnats.
  2) My sister-in-law lives near the center-of-mass of the solar system.
When she calculates the masses, velocities, and lever-arms relative to a
datum in her lab, she finds that about half of the angular momentum is in
the sun, most of the rest is in Jupiter, and then there is some in Saturn
and the other nits and gnats.
  3) My cousin is vacationing near Alpha Centauri.  When he calculates the
angular momentum of our solar system, he finds that Jupiter and Saturn make
positive contributions while the sun makes a negative contribution.
  *) Interestingly, when they compare notes as to the *total* angular
momentum, they all get the same answer.  This miraculous coincidence surely
shows the hand of God at work.