Why is Bode's Law so predictable?

[rov1100]

http://www.astro.corn...stro201/bodes_law.htm

Is there a reason why planets seem to obey the spacing as predicted by Bode's Law? It must be more than a mathematical fluke!

[Kayless]

Yes, this Bode chap is really god and he made the world in 6 days but his measuring equipment was a bit out.

[Old_Geezer]

I'd have thought a mass of dust swirling around a sun would have to obey some rough mathmatical equation that determined which orbits were most likely to gather material.

That said I believe it isn't holding everywhere.

[jake-the-peg]

Well it's not really

Not by any scientific measuremeny - it's often out 5% and really breaks down badly past Uranus.

It would be better named Bode's approximation

There's some disagreement whether or not its a coincidence we only have really good data on one planetary system if there were good enough data to show a similar linear relationship about another star it would get more weight.

Assuming it is not a relationship it would most likely be due to resonance effects when a cloud collapses into a solar system.

But the jury's still out on this one

[jomifl]

Was it derived from basic physical principals, or was it contrived to fit what already exists? As yet we have no other planetery systems which to test it.

[Jonathan-Joe]

Bode's Law cannot be relevant to the formation of the planets. The planets that we know have moved from their original orbits, (the gas giants especially far), Neptune and Uranus at least have exchanged relative positions. Other planets formed have been lost, through collision or leaving the solar system.
It seems just chance that, at present, some orbital distances fit a simple numerical sequence.

[Jonathan-Joe]

By the way, read rov1100's link with care.
It starts by stating Bode's Law, which is about the DISTANCE of the planets from the Sun. But the charts at the bottom, which the author claims demonstrates the accuracy of the Law, are about orbital PERIODS. The relationship there between distance and orbital period is no mystery, it follows from Newton's laws of motion and his theory of gravity.

[jake-the-peg]

Ah no Johnathon

If there's a resonance effect it wouldn't fit the exact distances that the planets are now but Bode's law basically says there's a linear relationship the specific numbers (whether it's a 4 or a 5 youd divide by ) are not important

He fitted the formula to known data at the time.

The later discovered Uranus fitted well but Neptune did not.

[rov1100]

It fits in with theories by Paul Dirac who said many formulae are so beautifully constructed. ie E=mc^2,etc. Concise!

[factor-fiction]

Talking of beautiful formulae my favourite is Euler's identity:
http://en.wikipedia.o...y#Mathematical_beauty
It brings together three seemingly unconnected special numbers in maths: e, i and pi

e is Euler's number, the base of natural logarithms (2.718...),
i is the imaginary unit, the square root of -1,
pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter

[rov1100]

Yes Factor30 a very intelligent designer must have arranged that.