Deep hypothetical question : planetary collision?

[Capitan23]

Hypothetical situation: its the year 5000. Man decides to build a colony on venus. (or any other planet inside earths planetary orbit) The transfer of mass from the earth to venus is significant, 10% of earth matter is brought to venus to form a colony.

Now, earth, with less mass, and the same gravitational acceleration with respect to the sun, has a smaller centripetal force. So it is brought closer to the sun by the force of the sun's gravitational pull, while Venus moves further away from the sun with a greater centripetal force. Venus crosses earths new orbit and BAM! planetary collision.

comment on this theory. Plus, what happens after the planet collides? Say the two planets are going the same direction and stick together when they collide, wtf happens then.

[Phil153]

The 10% figure is a bit high. Earth contains a trillion cubic kilometres of rock - 10% is a 100 billion cubic kilometres, which means we'd have to mine the land surface of the earth to a depth of 700km and blast it into space.

Assuming we moved 10%, the act of blasting it towards venus would push the Earth outward into a wider orbit, so you still wouldn't get a collision.

What exactly do you want to know? What a collision would look like? Its effect on the orbit?

[MelchyBeau]

It is believed that the earth collided with another planetoid and this caused the reformation of earth and the formation of our moon

[kerowo]

I don't think you understand what mass or gravity is.

[Borodog]

[ QUOTE ]
Now, earth, with less mass, and the same gravitational acceleration with respect to the sun, has a smaller centripetal force. So it is brought closer to the sun by the force of the sun's gravitational pull

[/ QUOTE ]

No. You just said that it has the same acceleration. Hence, it stays in the same orbit.