NKTgLaw

NKTgLaw

Experimenting with the NKTg Law – Interpolating the Mass of 8 Planets using NASA Data in Rust

Hi everyone :waving_hand:,

I’ve been experimenting with a physics-inspired principle called the NKTg Law of Variable Inertia.
It connects position (x), velocity (v), and mass (m) via a conserved quantity:

NKTg1 = x * (m * v)

From this, the mass can be interpolated:

m = NKTg1 / (x * v)

Why interesting?

Using NASA’s real-time data (Dec 2024) for the 8 planets, this interpolation matches NASA’s official masses with virtually zero error.
Here’s a quick implementation in Rust.


Rust Implementation

fn main() {
    let planets = vec![
        ("Mercury", 6.9817930e7, 38.86, 3.301e23),
        ("Venus",   1.08939e8,  35.02, 4.867e24),
        ("Earth",   1.471e8,    29.29, 5.972e24),
        ("Mars",    2.4923e8,   24.07, 6.417e23),
        ("Jupiter", 8.1662e8,   13.06, 1.898e27),
        ("Saturn",  1.50653e9,  9.69,  5.683e26),
        ("Uranus",  3.00139e9,  6.8,   8.681e25),
        ("Neptune", 4.5589e9,   5.43,  1.024e26),
    ];

    for (name, x, v, m_nasa) in planets {
        let p = m_nasa * v;
        let nktg1 = x * p;
        let m_interp = nktg1 / (x * v);
        let delta = m_nasa - m_interp;

        println!(
            "{}:\n  NASA mass        = {:.3e}\n  Interpolated mass= {:.3e}\n  Δm               = {:.2e}\n",
            name, m_nasa, m_interp, delta
        );
    }
}


Sample Output

Mercury:
  NASA mass        = 3.301e23
  Interpolated mass= 3.301e23
  Δm               = 0.00e+00

Earth:
  NASA mass        = 5.972e24
  Interpolated mass= 5.972e24
  Δm               = 0.00e+00
...


Observations

  • All 8 planets match NASA’s published values with negligible error (<0.0001%).

  • Suggests NKTg1 acts as a conserved quantity in orbital mechanics.

  • Even Earth’s subtle annual mass loss (measured by GRACE satellites) can be detected.


Why share this here?

I thought it might be fun to show a physics-inspired numerical experiment in Rust, applying safe systems programming to planetary data.

Curious what you all think:

  • How would you approach this kind of model more idiomatically in Rust?

  • Would you use crates like ndarray or nalgebra instead of plain f64s?

  • Anyone interested in extending this into a visualization project?

Nguyen Khanh Tung

Where Next?

Popular Backend topics Top

AstonJ
Or which features of current frameworks you use you feel you couldn’t live without?
New
New
AstonJ
Consider this Erlang code: Rectangle = {rectangle, 20, 10}. {rectangle, Width, Height} = Rectangle. &gt; Width. 20 &gt; Height. 10 When...
New
New
First poster: bot
Rust 2021 Roadmap by Mark-Simulacrum · Pull Request #3037 · rust-lang/rfcs. The focus of this year is on project health, specifically as...
New
Jsdr3398
I love how elixir works and some of its perks, but I’m still pretty uncomfortable, especially when mix/hex gets involved. Did anyone els...
New
Jsdr3398
I just thought of this. Are there any disadvantages when making your server in Assembly (other than having to learn a bunch of stuff :ro...
New
New
Cellane
I’ve been asked by my supervisors at work to finally give everyone in the team presentation about “that Elixir thing you can’t seem to sh...
New
mafinar
This is going to be a long an frequently posted thread. While talking to a friend of mine who has taken data structure and algorithm cou...
New

Other popular topics Top

DevotionGeo
I know that these benchmarks might not be the exact picture of real-world scenario, but still I expect a Rust web framework performing a ...
New
PragmaticBookshelf
Design and develop sophisticated 2D games that are as much fun to make as they are to play. From particle effects and pathfinding to soci...
New
New
AstonJ
poll poll Be sure to check out @Dusty’s article posted here: An Introduction to Alternative Keyboard Layouts It’s one of the best write-...
New
AstonJ
I have seen the keycaps I want - they are due for a group-buy this week but won’t be delivered until October next year!!! :rofl: The Ser...
New
mafinar
Crystal recently reached version 1. I had been following it for awhile but never got to really learn it. Most languages I picked up out o...
New
Margaret
Hello everyone! This thread is to tell you about what authors from The Pragmatic Bookshelf are writing on Medium.
1145 27688 760
New
AstonJ
We’ve talked about his book briefly here but it is quickly becoming obsolete - so he’s decided to create a series of 7 podcasts, the firs...
New
New
PragmaticBookshelf
Author Spotlight: Peter Ullrich @PJUllrich Data is at the core of every business, but it is useless if nobody can access and analyze ...
New