Expert: Tom Whiting - 8/6/2004

Question
hi.. why is it that the asteroids are placed between mars and jupiter? thanks...

Answer
Raiza....
I think what you really mean to ask is...what process put the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter?  Or, how did the
asteroid belt end up between Mars and Jupiter?

{Questions "Who and Why" are reserved for the philosophical or theological fields...science is not in the business
of answering "Why are we here, or Who put us here, or
Why is Saturn between Jupiter and Uranus...
Science only answers the questions how, when, and 'by what process' rather than 'Who and Why' which are non-science questions....and the two, science and theology,  should NEVER stray from their intended questions, otherwise they get into BIG trouble!} (Minor point, but still VERY
important, and something that you always have to keep
in mind)!

Well, there is a mathematical reason explaining how some
kind of matter should be there...Bode's Law (which wasn't
discovered by Bode, nor is it a valid law, but that's another story)....an arithmetic sequence as it were....first stated by Titius of Wittenberg in 1766...thus sometimes we refer to it as Titius-Bode law.....

Take the sequence of numbers 0, 3, (and keep doubling)
6, 12, 24, 48, 96, 192, etc.
Now add 4 to each number and divide by 10, to get
0.4, 0.7, 1.0, 1.6, 2.8, 5.2, 10.0, 19.6, 38.8, etc.

This last set of numbers correlates to nearly the exact
distance from the sun of each of the major planets, with
the exception of the 'gap' at 2.8 Astronomical Units (AU)
(Earth-Sun distance of 93 million miles = 1 AU.)
Thus mathematically, there should be something located at
2.8 AU, and this turned out to be the asteroid belt.

Actual numbers are:
Mercury 0.4 AU
Venus   0.7 AU
Earth   1.0 AU (by definition)
Mars    1.52 AU
Jupiter 5.2 AU....and so on.
(Notice the 'gap' at 2.8 AU which is the asteroid belt.)

Scientifically, what happened to the matter in this location
was the gravitational effects of nearby Jupiter prevented a
small planet from forming up at that distance.  The presence of massive Jupiter speeded up the material so when it
collided early on (4 billion years ago) instead of coalescing and merging like the other planets, the material was high speed destructional collisons, thus a small planet never got a chance to form up, and the material remained as small planetoids undergoing continuous destructive collisions. And this continues to the present day. Had a planet formed, it
would have been quite small, about the size of our moon
at about 2100 miles in diameter, or about half the diameter
of Mars.  And at that distance and size, the small planet would not have held an atmosphere, and been quite cold and barren at an average daytime temperature of around -150 degrees F.

Hope all this helps,
Clear skies,
Tom Whiting
Erie, PA USA