<p>No, it is not probable. The reason is that the tidal acceleration of the wave would need to be on the same scale as the gravitational accelerations inside the solar system.  But the intensity of gravitational waves even from vast black hole mergers is microscopic: to experience a wave that makes lengths vary by 1% you need to be about 100 Schwarzschild radii away from the merger.</p>
<p>In addition they need to act over long enough time to push planets, but merger frequencies are multiple Hz, making it hard to do anything but tickle planets. To really disrupt a solar system you need a consistent acceleration over a time span comparable to at least a fraction of a planetary period.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-05-03T17:55:45.053Z
The GW spectrum spans many orders of magnitude.  The GWs LIGO observes have ~100 Hz frequencies.  SMBHBs can generate GWs with frequencies ~$10^{-9}$ Hz, so years long periods.  They're still way too small to push the planets around, but the frequencies are the right scale.
Paul T.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-05-03T17:27:24.170Z
2022-05-03T17:27:24.170Z
Anders Sandberg
<p>Can gravitation waves, emited from black holes, break Solar System equilibrium and make a planet leave orbit or fall onto the Sun? And if it's probable can we measure this probability?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-05-03T17:51:21.303Z
There are two close votes for "Needs details or clarity: This question should include more details and clarify the problem." But the problem is crystal clear and no further clarification is necessary, which is borne out by the fact that there's already an answer that addresses this nicely! **voting to leave open**
uhoh
<solar-system><gravitational-waves>
Can gravitation waves break Solar System equilibrium?
mugiseyebrows
# Can gravitation waves break Solar System equilibrium?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-05-03)

Can gravitation waves, emited from black holes, break Solar System equilibrium and make a planet leave orbit or fall onto the Sun? And if it's probable can we measure this probability?

**Tags:** solar-system, gravitational-waves

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: There are two close votes for "Needs details or clarity: This question should include more details and clarify the problem." But the problem is crystal clear and no further clarification is necessary, which is borne out by the fact that there's already an answer that addresses this nicely! **voting to leave open**  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2022-05-03. Score: 6 | Accepted answer

No, it is not probable. The reason is that the tidal acceleration of the wave would need to be on the same scale as the gravitational accelerations inside the solar system. But the intensity of gravitational waves even from vast black hole mergers is microscopic: to experience a wave that makes lengths vary by 1% you need to be about 100 Schwarzschild radii away from the merger.

In addition they need to act over long enough time to push planets, but merger frequencies are multiple Hz, making it hard to do anything but tickle planets. To really disrupt a solar system you need a consistent acceleration over a time span comparable to at least a fraction of a planetary period.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: The GW spectrum spans many orders of magnitude.  The GWs LIGO observes have ~100 Hz frequencies.  SMBHBs can generate GWs with frequencies ~$10^{-9}$ Hz, so years long periods.  They're still way too small to push the planets around, but the frequencies are the right scale.  

---

