ASTR 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Hyperbola, Net Force, Orbital Period
Document Summary
How did newton change our view of the universe: realized the same physical laws that operate on earth also operate in the heavens. Second law of motion: there are two equivalent ways to express newton"s second law of motion, force= mass x acceleration, force= rate of change in momentum. Earth and you exert equal and opposite forces on each other. Thought question: how does the force the earth exerts on you compare with the force you exert on it. Attraction is directly proportional to the product of their masses. Attraction is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers. How does newton"s law of gravity extend to kepler"s law: kepler"s laws apply to all orbiting objects, not just planets, ellipses are not the only orbital paths. Center of mass- because of momentum conservation, orbiting objects orbit around their center of mass.