2009/06/19 by Gizachew Tiruneh, Tiruneh, Gizachew
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) #FOS: Physical sciences #Historical Astronomy and Related Studies #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0906.3531
openalex publication_date 2009/06/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This paper uses an inductive method to investigate the factors responsible for variations in planetary-rotation periods. I began by showing the presence of a correlation between the masses of planets and their rotation periods. Then I tested the impact of planetary radius, acceleration, velocity, and torque on rotation periods. I found that velocity, acceleration, and radius are the most important factors in explaining rotation periods. The effect of mass may be rather on influencing the size of the radii of planets. That is, the larger the mass of a planet, the larger its radius. Moreover, mass does also influence the strength of the rotational force, torque, which may have played a major role in setting the initial constant speeds of planetary rotation.