What does clearing the neighborhood mean?

Clearing the neighborhood means making sure nothing else is around to bother you, like when you tidy up your toys before playing a big game.

Imagine you're in a playground full of kids, and you want to have the best swing in the whole place. But there are other kids nearby who might push you off or take your spot. To clear the neighborhood, you’d make sure no one else is around, maybe by asking them to go play somewhere else.

That’s what happens with planets like Earth. When a planet cleans up its neighborhood, it means it’s big enough and strong enough to either pull smaller things closer or push them away, so nothing else gets in the way of its path around the Sun.

Think about it like being the champion of a game: you want to be the only one playing on your favorite court. If other players are nearby, they might try to interrupt you. But if you clear the neighborhood, you make sure no one else is there, just like Earth made sure nothing else was in its way when it became a planet.