{{Wiktionary|potato radius|hydrostatic equilibrium|dwarf planets|small Solar System body}}
The '''potato radius''' is the size at which an asteroid is massive<ref name="theaveragescientist/planet-potato">{{cite web |last1=Hall |first1=Ian |title=What Makes Earth A Planet, Not A Potato? |url=https://theaveragescientist.co.uk/2022/05/28/why-isnt-planet-earth-a-potato/ |website=The Average Scientist .co.uk |access-date=1 August 2025}}</ref> enough that gravity begins to make it rounder.<ref name="skyatnightmagazine/potato-radius">{{cite web |title=Potato radius |url=https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/potato-radius |website=BBC Sky at Night Magazine |publisher=The Sky at Night, BBC |access-date=1 August 2025 |language=en |date=9 January 2025}}</ref> The potato radius defines hydrostatic equilibrium and is used to separate dwarf planets from small Solar System bodies.<ref name="arXiv.1511.04297">{{cite arXiv |last1=Caplan |first1=M. E. |title=Calculating the Potato Radius of Asteroids using the Height of Mt. Everest |date=November 2015 |class=physics.ed-ph |eprint=1511.04297}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=Charles H. |last1=Lineweaver |first2=Marc |last2=Norman |year=2010 |chapter=The potato radius: A lower minimum size for dwarf planets |editor-last1=Short |editor-first1=W. |editor-last2=Cairns |editor-first2=I. |title=Proceedings of 2009 Australian Space Science Conference |pages=67–78 |publisher=National Space Society of Australia |arxiv=1004.1091 |isbn=9780977574032 |chapter-url=https://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~charley/papers/Potato%20Radiusv8.pdf |access-date=August 11, 2023 |archive-date=March 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230310103945/https://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~charley/papers/Potato%20Radiusv8.pdf |url-status=live }}<!-- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/45910611 --></ref> Charles Lineweaver and Marc Norman at the Australian National University in Canberra first proposed an objective definition of a planet that separates potato-like objects from spherical ones.<ref name="phys/2010-04-planets-potatoes.">{{cite news |title=Picking Planets from Potatoes |url=https://phys.org/news/2010-04-planets-potatoes.html |access-date=1 August 2025 |work=phys.org |agency=Astrobiology Magazine |date=April 26, 2010 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="MIT-tech-review/27697">{{cite news |title='Potato Radius' To Define Dwarf Planets |url=https://www.technologyreview.com/2010/04/12/27697/potato-radius-to-define-dwarf-planets/ |access-date=1 August 2025 |work=MIT Technology Review |agency=Emerging Technology from the arXiv |language=en}}</ref><ref name="universetoday/astronomy-potato">{{cite web |last1=Nerlich |first1=Steve |title=Astronomy Without A Telescope – One Potato, Two Potato |url=https://www.universetoday.com/articles/astronomy-without-a-telescope-one-potato-two-potato |website=Universe Today |access-date=1 August 2025 |language=en |date=April 17, 2010}}</ref>
==See also== *Dwarf planet § Hydrostatic equilibrium *Hydrostatic equilibrium *Radius of dominance
==References== {{Reflist}}
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Category:Asteroids Category:Concepts in astronomy Category:Concepts in astrophysics