L4, L5 Gravity Wells

>
> I know very little about astronautics so I don't mind revealing my
> igonrance -- I'm a theoretical neuroscientist and I deal a lot with chaotic
> dynamics. I don't know very much about orbital mechanics or the dynamics
> associated with them but I'll take a guess that the small amount of momentum
> imparted by the "tossing" process would swamp any effect due to
> gravitational gradient at that distance, and the trajectory which was
> followed by each piece of chaff would be determined far more by the
> variations in initial momentum than by gravitational gradient.
>

Wow, that is a good point which I had not really thought of.
Yes, these are known as "tip-off" forces and could certainly be
significant.

Designing a deployment system to deliver pieces of chaff to precise
positions with zero residual velocity relative to the desired orbit
would be a challenge indeed.

Your answer is worth 3 points IMHO :-)