JRS: In article , seen
in news:sci.space.science, Morenga posted at Thu, 31 Jul
2003 04:57:59 :-
(In fact, for bodies inside their Roche's limit, there are points
where the net gravitational acceleration is "outward," which is why such bodies
may fall apart if the tidal forces exceed that body's tensile strength.)

Now one thing that always fascinated me about this Roche limit is the
question
of what would happen if two bodies of exactly equal mass would cross each
other's
"Roche limit".


You must also consider the relative densities - see my gravity3.htm.
Only if the equal masses have equal densities will they enter each
other's Roche Limits simultaneously.

The arithmetic will be different, since the closer parts of each body
will be significantly nearer than the centres of gravity.

Each body will be affected by the tide of everything else; the effect of
Body A on Body B will not immediately be much affected by part of the
surface of A becoming detached.

The calculation for fluid bodies will be much worse than in the small-
orbiter case; and that looked hard enough in Roche's paper. But I
expect that brute force computation can give a result nowadays.

--
© John Stockton, Surrey, UK. Turnpike v4.00 MIME. ©
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