Quote:
Originally Posted by grav
The computer program doesn't blow up at the edge, since it is
calculating over clumped points within the disk instead of a mass
spread evenly throughout the disk, as with an integration. However,
as I make the thickness of the disk smaller and smaller, the gravity
at the edge climbs higher and higher.
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That should make the problem much easier to resolve than if it only
showed up when it reaches zero thickness. This way, you will get
a definite indication that you have found the problem and fixed it,
rather than applying some arbitrary restriction which makes the
infinities go away but doesn't necessarily give correct results.
Quote:
Originally Posted by grav
With zero thickness, the particle does not lie against a surface as it
would with a sphere or thick disk.
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I don't understand the geometry you are describing when you say
"...lie against a surface...".
Quote:
Originally Posted by grav
Since the force varies with the square of the distance, we might need
two dimensions to cancel out the infinities.
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I think you shouldn't be producing infinities in the first place. Cancelling
them out sounds like a hack, and a particularly dangerous one.
-- Jeff, in Minneapolis