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Am I right that planets tend to be generally spherical? (Not perfect spheres, of course, but for the most part sphere-like). Why is this? Your explanation of how/why fire manifests as sphere in space seems related, but wouldn`t the properties of the matter which make up a planet have an effect on the shape of the planet? To this end, is it possible to have a hotdog-shaped planet, or will rotational and orbital forces (and others?) always collect a planet`s matter into a sphere?

Am I right that planets tend to be generally spherical? (Not perfect spheres, of course, but for the most part sphere-like). Why is this? Your explanation of how/why fire manifests as sphere in space seems related, but wouldn`t the properties of the matter which make up a planet have an effect on the shape of the planet? To this end, is it possible to have a hotdog-shaped planet, or will rotational and orbital forces (and others?) always collect a planet`s matter into a sphere?

Grade:12th pass

3 Answers

rahul kushwaha
114 Points
7 years ago
Which resource used to be greatly consumed by the photo processing industry before the age of digital photography?
Umakant biswal
5349 Points
7 years ago
@ rahul 
what exactly u want to know ?? your ques are not clear that much , i think u want to know why the shape of the planet is spherical and not cylindrical or cubical ?? 
if so, then here are the reason 
1- every object tries to be in its minimum potential energy state , so, for the spherical shape the surface area will be minimum and as a result potential energy will also be minimum , 
thatswhy the planet and other celestial body are circular in shape . 
HOPE IT CLEARS YOUR DOUBT 
ALL THE BEST ..
Manas Shukla
102 Points
7 years ago
Yes you are correct about planets being generally spherical. Keep in mind that gravitational force acts on all the matter on the planet and pulls it in the shape of circle. Also planets have a slight bulge along the equator of the planet cause of the centrifugal force cause of spinning. It is known as equatorial bulge . Saturn and jupiter have a lot of this “bulge” whereas small planet like earth which also spins kind of slow doesnt. Also keep in mind not all objects tend to go in spherical shape , like galaxies are mostly spiral shaped or disk shaped due to centrifugal acceleration and conservation of angular momentum.

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