Edouard Roche (1820-1883) finds the limiting radius of tidal destruction and tidal creation for a body held together only by its self gravity and uses it to explain why Saturn’s rings do not condense into a satellite. He described a method of calculating the distance at which an object held together only by gravity would break up due to tidal forces; this distance became known as the Roche limit.
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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Roche’s theory on the planetary rings of Saturn". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 May 2009 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=6305, accessed 23 November 2024.]
