Kepler’s Laws CPA Physics
Geocentric View Points Earth centered Universe Aristotle (Greek) 384-322 BC Ptolemy (Alexandrian Greek) 85-65AD
Heliocentric Viewpoints Sun centered Solar System Aristarchus (Greek)310-230 BC Copernicus (Poland and Italy) 1473-1543 Galileo Galilei (Italian) 1564-1642
Tycho Brahe (Danish) 1546-1601
Tycho Brahe Worked on the Island of Hven near Copenhagen at the Uraniborg Observatory Compromise Theory: The Sun orbits the Earth, but the remaining planets orbit the Sun. Brahe passed along his observations to Johannes Kepler, his assistant.
Brahe’s Compromise Theory
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) German Astronomer
Kepler’s First Law (Law of Orbits): Planets move in elliptical orbits with the Sun at one of the focal points. E L L I P S E
Kepler’s Laws Animation
Kepler’s 2nd Law(The Law of Areas) A line from the sun to a planet sweeps out equal areas in equal lengths of time.
Where is the speed of the earth greater, point B or C?
Kepler’s Laws Animation
Kepler’s Third Law ( Law of Periods or Law of Harmony) The square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the average distance of the planet from the Sun. K for our Solar System
Kepler’s Third Law ( Law of Periods or Law of Harmony)
EXAMPLE: An asteroid revolves around the sun with a mean orbital radius of three times that of the earth. What is the period of the asteroid in earth years? ANS: 5.2y
The period of the Moon is 27. 3 days and its orbital radius is 3 The period of the Moon is 27.3 days and its orbital radius is 3.8 x 108m. What would be the orbital radius of an object orbiting Earth with a period of 20 days? ANS – 3.09 x 10 8 m