"It's even hard to predict the exact results..."

Hola Listees,

Yes, this is what Larry and I had already stated, Sterling. While on the subject of James Clerk Maxwell, I wanted to add two interesting footnotes,

(1) Decated to Sterling, a guitar fellow with Maxwell (and not to forget E.P.'s question, here's a "simplest" answer and it's singable), Maxwell's guitar song parody of Robert Burns:

"Gin a body meet a body
Flyin' through the air.
Gin a body hit a body,
Will it fly? And where?...

...Gin a body meet a body
Altogether free,
How they travel afterwards
We do not always see."

stanzas from: "Rigid Body Sings"
(Gin= "if")
http://www.edinburghacademy.org.uk/curriculum/chemistry/sciencecentre.htm

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/in-memory-of-edward-wilson-who-repented-of-what/

(2) Maxwell, giving credit to a little help from Laplace, had discussed correctly the accretion theory of meteoroids and asteroids, moonlets while on the subject of Saturn in the 1850's, proved that from a nebula they could not form, that first there would have to be something provoking condensation. But he moved on, after being influenced by his foray into theoretical meteoritics(dynamics) (this, actually the problem of Saturns rings and the question of formation of moonlets (a.k.a., meteoroids), in a huge collection is what led him to problems like the "spokes" in Saturns rings, and wave treatment of so many particles. Lucky for us, he then worked out what these sorts of waves looked like and behaved requiring the concept of time and for the speed of light to be a constant and thus took humanity a step forward by bringing an understanding and unification of the electric and magnetic theories.
Einstein admitted:
"The special theory of relativity owes its origins to Maxwell's equations of the electromagnetic field." So, even though we lost one aspiring and very young meteoriticist destined for greatness, the view of the world was never the same after Maxwell...all probably inspired by the question of how gases could accrete into bodies and the theoretical rubble he proposed as the composition of Saturn's rings and their stability -

Best wishes, quantifiably yours
Doug

----- Original Message ----- From: "Sterling K. Webb" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "E.P. Grondine" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 7:45 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Mammoth Stew, just right

Hi, EP, List,

   EP wrote:

...the gravitational effects of the Earth+Moon system
should draw items in, gradually changing their orbits
from those passing near to ones which intersect.

   The problem with the near miss, the close
approach, the graze is that, while they will modify
the orbit of the object passing by, it can (and will)
change that orbit but it will do so in any (and every)
direction. A close pass by a little asteroid may mean
you'll never seen it again or it may come back aimed
right at you. It's even hard to predict the exact results
of a close pass when you know the approach elements.
It's really too touchy.

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