Why do space rocks/debris always revolve around the equator? (At least most of the time)

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Why do space rocks/debris always revolve around the equator? (At least most of the time)

In: Physics

2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

There is nothing preventing stuff from orbiting in any plane. But *most of the time* it orbits on the equatorial plane because it probably started out that way, or they end that way because **Angular momentum is always conserved.**

A systems angular moment can be resolved in one single direction. This mean that you can start will billions of particles moving in random direction, but the angular momentum will always be in the same direction. So over time, the angular momentum of individual particles of the system, not in the plane, get cancelled off.

This is not the best explanation, but here a [short video](https://youtu.be/tmNXKqeUtJM) that explains this phenomenon

Anonymous 0 Comments

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