Rotational bursting of interplanetary dust particles

Abstract

Solar radiation pressure can cause rotational bursting and eventual elimination from the solar system of asymmetric dust particles by a windmill effect. The life span against this process for metallic particles with radii of 10 −5 to 10 −2 cm ranges from 10 to 10,000 years. The effects of magnetic spin damping have been considered in this estimate. This depletion mechanism works faster than the traditional Poynting‐Robertson effect by approximately one order of magnitude for metallic particles and about two orders of magnitude for nonmetallic particles.