What was Vulcan?
Q: What was Vulcan?
A: Vulcan was a theoretical planet that was believed to orbit close to the sun in the 19th century.
Q: What was the purpose of Vulcan's existence?
A: It was believed that Vulcan's gravitational pull would explain changes seen between the perihelion advance of Mercury from that predicted by Classical Mechanics.
Q: Why did the theory of Vulcan exist?
A: The theory that Vulcan exists come from the earlier prediction that an outer planet (now Neptune) was causing similar changes in the orbit of Uranus from the orbit predicted by classical theory.
Q: Was the existence of Vulcan ever confirmed?
A: No, none of the searches for Vulcan found a planet.
Q: What effect did the failure to find Vulcan have on the scientific community?
A: The failure to find Vulcan caused some people to not agree with Newtonian theory and led to the development of Special Relativity and General Relativity.
Q: Who developed a modified theory of gravity that disproved the theories of Vulcan?
A: Albert Einstein developed a modified theory of gravity that showed why the orbit of Mercury changes without the existence of Vulcan.
Q: What was the final outcome of the theory of Vulcan?
A: The modified theory of gravity developed by Albert Einstein ultimately disproved the theories of Vulcan.
