Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
The combined effects of the Poynting-Robertson drag, collisions and sputtering are destroying the interplanetary dust cloud. The mass-losses estimated by different authors reveal great discrepancies. The estimations range from 1 t sec−1 (purely Poynting-Robertson loss) over some 10 t sec−1 given by Whipple (1967) to a value of 100 t sec−1 which is propagated by Bandermann (1967). The latter derives this high value from the assumption that the main mass loss is due to self-collisions.