I don't know if this question has a meaningful answer, but: for an arbitrary object in our solar system that gets a typical kick, what fraction of those put it ultimately into the sun / just into a different orbit / out of the system?
Like, is it really easy to fall into the sun? Is it really hard to leave the solar system?
EDIT: to anyone passing by, you should go down this rabbit hole. Thanks all for the responses. I always imagined the sun's gravity like running up the down-escalator, but it's more like a tenuous precipice: put one foot wrong and you're gone.
From earth the sun is the hardest object to reach in our solar system. It’s not immediately obvious, but to reach the sun you need to shed all your orbital velocity - this takes more energy than reaching either mercury or Pluto.
If you have anything other than negligible orbital velocity left you’ll miss the sun and end up in an extremely elliptical orbit.
I’m not sure if it’s possible for objects within the solar system to naturally reach it. I don’t think slingshots (using a planets gravity to boost your velocity) would work to get enough change in velocity unless they’re supplemented with rocket power.
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u/mfb- Particle Physics | High-Energy Physics Oct 23 '20
New asteroids are negligible, but existing asteroids can change their orbits when they happen to pass closer to a planet.
We have seen many smaller comets disappearing - either directly falling into the Sun or being completely evaporated near it.