Earthed - How come we have unstable planets in our solar system?

How come we have unstable planets in our solar system?

I just don't get it, Earth is the only planet with life but other planets are not. These unstable planets are wasting there time here but Jupiter is keeping the rocks from falling into earth. We don't need those other gas planets. It seem to me Venus, Mercury should have life like earth but it don't. Is mars consider a planet or a moon.

Public Comments

wha?

the planets don't have a choice. they just ARE.

so are we and our life. we cannot control it. only the planet's conditions.

mars is a planet. it could have had life on it. but when its core cooled and it lost its protective magnetic field, all atmosphere was ripped away along with the most of the possibility of life.

A probe named PHOENIX is in space and on the way as we speak to check for signs of life at mars' northern pole where they've already found frozen water.

for a planet to have life it seems like we need a working mag field, a hot core, minor tectonic surface action, an atmosphere, water, fall into the habitable zone, and have a giant nearby if we are far from the sun.

Mercury is much to close to the sun to be a hospitable planet for any type of life. Its WAY to hot.

we're OK because we far enough from the sun to not fry. we are in the "habitable zone"

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060207_habitable_zone.html

We are a lucky planet in a system of billions of Galaxies, each having billions of stars, and each star has a chance of having 1 or more habitable planets out of maybe say 6 planets each system.

the odds of US being in a PERFECT solar system, having life on multiple planets, each falling in the habitable zone and 1 giant rock sucker are pretty freakin slim.

we're lucky to have what we do and so are our planets

but, theres something out there

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070424_hab_exoplanet.html
Seems like you are wasting some time (and random words) here, too.

;-)
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What an unholy bunch of questions. But briefly:

Lack of life is not instability.

Planets do not exist for the purpose of providing a home for life.

Yes, Jupiter does provide that function. Not consciously

Planets do not exist to serve our needs.

Mercury is too close to the sun for life.

Venus cannot have life because its atmosphere is too dense and a runaway greenhouse effect has made it forever uninhabitable.

Mars is a planet, since it revolves around the sun.

I think I got them all.
What makes you think that just because a planet doesn't support life as we know it, it's 'unstable'?

If you think we don't need the outer planets, especially Jupiter, you are so totally wrong you could not even begin to understand.

If it weren't for Jupiter, we (Earthlings) would be getting smacked every 100 years or so with massive cosmic debris, instead of the rate of a strike of importance every million- or- so years.

Are you THAT smug? to consider yourself THAT superior? just because you happen to live on a planet that supports carbon- based life?

Get a clue.
(1) Mercury is too close to the sun. It also is way too small to hold an atmosphere, so it's burning on the sun-side and freezing on the dark side of the planet. No way it's habitable for life. (It is, however, considered a Planet. It's Pluto that was reclassified as a planet/moon/asteroid thing [that's the scientific nomenclature].

(2) Venus is also just a bit too close to the sun, it seems. Its CO2 atmosphere created too much "global warming" for things like water to condense.

(3) "we don't need" the gas giant planets? No, we don't "need" them, but because of their distance from the sun, that's how they were created.

(4) Jupiter is a gas giant -- really a star that never quite made it. It has gravity, butis not "keeping the rocks from falling to earth."
the universe is a big place and contains mny things...humans are by far not the most important things in the universe, except to eachother. conditions on earth were just right for humans to develope on...im sure there are countless planets in the universe that have living things on them. just not here in our neighborhood of the galaxy. living things adapt to their environment, over time. but the universe only has so many elements to work with so conditions have to be right for certain types of chemistry to occur and allow "life" to evolve to its environment. take some chemistry classes and biology classes and astronomy classes when you get older, it will help you undestand things better...good luck!!!!!!
WHAT? Of all the moronic ramblings I have seen to date, your's is the most brainless. I can see that you just don't get it. The solar system IS the solar system. None of the planets in it are "unstable." They all have stable orbits. If they did not there would be no solar system, only chaos (kind of like your mind). The planets do not have minds of their own. They are not sentient (are you?). What gave you the notion that WE don't need "those other gas giants?" AND if we could eliminate them what would we do with them, and where would we put them? Mercury and Venus may indeed have life on them, but if it exists, it would, due to their extreme temperatures, compared to Earth, would look nothing like earth creatures (except perhaps for you). Oh, and Mars is a planet, and it has two moons (Diemos and Phobos).
Maybe you are wasting space here. You should consider living on one of those "unstable" planets. At least then they will have a human form. Don't forget to take your oxygen tank and mask. You just might need it. Have a happy, long life. :)
Does it take a lot of effort to get that stupid? Just wondering.

You're one of those people who thinks that everything must have a purpose, and that's just not the case.
I sometimes answer questions and when the asker picks the best answer, I realize that the whole thing was a joke.

But I like to answer questions, so I keep on.

All of these smart folks are right about the Solar System just being there, and not wasting time. Aaliya, is someone forcing you to keep these planets in their orbits? I could see why you would be tired and irritated then.

Just to make it clear- a MOON has to orbit a planet, not the Sun directly, so that is why Mars is not a moon. Actually, Pluto is so small, it is smaller than some moons, but since it orbit the Sun, it is a Planet ( which has been questined lately, but no one calls Pluto "a moon" -at least not if they want to make it back to their car safely!)

And the Earth is unstable as one of your sharp answerers has said. It is also unstable in that the tidal effect of the Moon on the Earth is slowing the Moon's orbit around the Earth and so it is coming closer.

And I believe, that unlike Kepler's Theory, the orbits of the planets are all slowly decaying.
i do not know