How can the Sun have over 99.8% of the Solar System's mass even though the star system has so much materials and planets?
Because the sun is…just…huge. It's really, really big. There is so much matter that makes up the sun that it's actually horrifying to even think about. Even Jupiter, our biggest planet, is small and relatively lightweight compared to the large star we orbit. If you look up scale models of these things, it'll make your body hair stand on end. It sends chills down my body when I see the sheer difference in size.
The suns average density is 1.41g/cm^3 and the average density of the planets are as follows in g/cm^3:
1. Mercury: 5.4
2. Venus: 5.2
3. Earth: 5.5
4. Mars: 3.9
5. Jupiter: 1.3
6. Saturn: 0.7
7. Uranus: 1.3
8. Neptune: 1.6
9. Pluto: 1.9
Now, even though the planets are generally DENSER on average than the sun, they're not dense enough have enough matter in their little selves to make up more than 0.2% of the solar systems mass. Keep in mind, this is just the planets (yeah I know Pluto isn't a planet but I included it anyways) and there are also asteroids and comets and moons and such included in that 0.2%. Anyways, I just wanted to include this little snippet in here for anyone interested.
@science_of_cosmos
Because the sun is…just…huge. It's really, really big. There is so much matter that makes up the sun that it's actually horrifying to even think about. Even Jupiter, our biggest planet, is small and relatively lightweight compared to the large star we orbit. If you look up scale models of these things, it'll make your body hair stand on end. It sends chills down my body when I see the sheer difference in size.
The suns average density is 1.41g/cm^3 and the average density of the planets are as follows in g/cm^3:
1. Mercury: 5.4
2. Venus: 5.2
3. Earth: 5.5
4. Mars: 3.9
5. Jupiter: 1.3
6. Saturn: 0.7
7. Uranus: 1.3
8. Neptune: 1.6
9. Pluto: 1.9
Now, even though the planets are generally DENSER on average than the sun, they're not dense enough have enough matter in their little selves to make up more than 0.2% of the solar systems mass. Keep in mind, this is just the planets (yeah I know Pluto isn't a planet but I included it anyways) and there are also asteroids and comets and moons and such included in that 0.2%. Anyways, I just wanted to include this little snippet in here for anyone interested.
@science_of_cosmos