First of all, are there astronomers/astrophysicists who study the asteroid belt and specifically the gravitational effects among asteroids? Second, if gravity meters were placed on one or more asteroids, what would they reveal? Would they primarily reflect complex tidal effects caused by gravitational interactions, the gravity of the specific asteroid on which they were placed, or a combination? Would there be some stabilizing "net gravity" of the belt as a whole that would influence all gravitational interactions between the individual asteroids?

I think the answer to all your questions is yes.

 

Ceres is the largest asteroid in the asteroid belt. It is now called a dwarf planet. It is less than 600 miles in diameter and contains 32% of the mass of the entire asteroid belt. There are not many large objects in the asteroid belt.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceres_(dwarf_planet)

Edited March 28, 201114 yr by Airbrush

I think the answer to all your questions is yes.

 

Ceres is the largest asteroid in the asteroid belt. It is now called a dwarf planet. It is less than 600 miles in diameter and contains 32% of the mass of the entire asteroid belt. There are not many large objects in the asteroid belt.

 

http://en.wikipedia....s_(dwarf_planet)

I read the wikipedia entry on asteroids after posting this (should have done it before probably). There seem to be some "families" of asteroids that appear to be parts of a fragmented planet(oid) that "hang together" in orbit. These are interesting to me since I wonder to what extent their gravitation unifies like that of a cohesive planet whilst at the same time separating into relatively disjunct gravity wells. I would like to understand if gravitation as a unified body conflicts in some way with gravitation among multiple clumps of matter with vacuum-space in between them.