microgravitry tagged posts

How Planets may Form after Dust Sticks together

Aggregates in experiment and simulation.

Scientists may have figured out the origins of planets. Scientists may have figured out how dust particles can stick together to form planets, according to a Rutgers co-authored study that may also help to improve industrial processes.

In homes, adhesion on contact can cause fine particles to form dust bunnies. Similarly in outer space, adhesion causes dust particles to stick together. Large particles, however, can combine due to gravity – an essential process in forming asteroids and planets. But between these two extremes, how aggregates grow has largely been a mystery until now.

The study, published in the journal Nature Physics, found that particles under microgravity – similar to conditions believed to be in interplanetary space – d...

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