"Harmonices Mundi"

[Proteus]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonices_Mundi

 

Why is this?

 

The angular velocities vary in accordance to the distance to the sun, moving faster at perihelion, but what of it? The planets were formed of the same elliptical proplanetary disk, which explains why the ratios correspond so well, but I'm assuming that the approximation to musical harmonies can't be coincidental.

[insane_alien]

exactly, you are assuming it can't be coincidence. even through mars and jupiter do not follow any 'harmony'.

 

this is numerology. search hard enough for a pattern and you'll find one. there are so many numerical properties associated with the planets that you're likely to find some that match up to other unrelated things.

 

and the ratios are unlikely to be exactly on the harmonic, this is probably handily ignored or considered 'close enough' even if it would sound terrible if played on an instrument.

[Proteus]

Sorry, I meant "I'm assuming it isn't coincidental" which would have sounded more appropriate. Yes, it can be coincidental, of course, and now you remind me of all the other things that are coincidental, there's really no telling whether it's coincidence or not.

 

Still, even though there are a lot of properties associated with planets, there aren't many that vary in frequency (angular frequency in this case). I remain open to the possibility that there's some abstruse mathematical explanation.

 

Could it have something to do with the hydrodynamics of the proplanetary disc? Obviously, if it's not coincidence, then it must have been caused by some kind of interaction of other, and the only I could think of are gravity and, perhaps, hydrodynamics. Unlike gas, dust does not behave like a fluid, but seeing how gas predominated in the proplyd I would assume it would not distort the hydrodynamics much, at least if the proplyd was dense enough?

 

Was the proplyd at any time dense enough for collisions between the particles to have caused significant mechanical effects? The gas and dust probably already moved in an ellips. Is it possible that the density would have increased at aphelion?

 

I don't want to be associated with Kepler's flights of fancy, though. I'm an agnost, and religion has no relevance here. I just think there could be some mathematics behind it which we can't see yet.

 

Perhaps it might also have something to do with the mathematics of an ellips. You can draw the function of a sinus wave using a unit circle, and a mathematical wave could basically be said to be described by a point on a moving, rotating ellips.

 

Could the globule of gas which would later form the sun have been dense enough that, at least in an initial phase of its collapse, sound propagation was possible? Perhaps the gas' implosion into a star, or the subsequent initial explosions, would have propagated waves through the proplanetary cloud. Since these sounds would be random, it would mostly be a homogeneous noise, but consonant frequencies (ie harmonic notes), which interfere constructively and so amplify one another, might have travelled farther. No idea how to go on from there, though.

 

I'm more writing this to encourage others to try and share their thoughts. If I'm the first to ridicule myself others might not mind as much.

 

Still, of course, it could very well be coincidence. The problem is that unless we can properly observe the orbits of exoplanets, we can't find out, so as yet it's an unsatisfying answer.

[louis wu]

insane alien

 

How about Bode's law of planetary formation.

Is that just numerology?

[insane_alien]

louis, no titus bode law is just wrong.

 

it doesn't predict the orbits that accurately and completely fails for neptune and kuiper belt objects.

 

heck, pluto has nearly 100% error.

 

its an example of curve fitting. a failed example.