What If Blog #2

What if the Earth had rings like Saturn? The earth's sky would be a spectacular view. The rings would be huge just like Saturn's. I watched a video by Roy Prol, an animator that showed what Earth would look like if it indeed had rings. The animation took into consideration several calculations in order to provide a realistic animation. In the video, several locations scattered throughout the globe were shown with different views of the rings. Each location's view was considered by its latitude, southern or northern hemisphere, and location. The video stated that the rings' sizes were calculated by the Roche limit. What is the Roche limit? It was named after a French astronomer, Edouard Roche. He was the first to calculate the limit in 1848. The Roche limit is also called the Roche radius. It is a limit in which a celestial body (such as Earth) will disintegrate or decay due to a second celestial body's tidal forces that exceed the first body's self gravitation. Each planet or celestial body is held together by its own gravitational pull. A tidal force is another effect that gravity has. It produces waves of force and attraction that influence two celestial bodies upon contact with one another. The rings that orbit a planet remain inside the Roche limit. Because the Roche limit is so strong, comets that come into contact with this theoretical barrier simply break apart. What if the Earth had rings? Well, maybe the Earth would have its own defense from invaders such as comets. Maybe Earth would have its own defense. The rings orbit due to the strong gravitational force that lies between them and the planet. If Earth had rings, then maybe any meteors that come into contact with the rings would become part of the rings' orbit. This would prevent any meteoroids, meteors that have broken through Earth's atmosphere, to cause destruction to our planet like they did in the age of the dinosaurs.