PHYS 2 Chapter Notes - Chapter 13.5 - 13.8: Dimensionless Quantity, Ellipse, Point Particle
Document Summary
13. 5 kepler"s laws and the motion of planets. Each planet moves in an elliptical orbit, with the sun at one focus of the ellipse. A line from the sun to a given planet sweeps out equal areas in equal times. Sum of distances from to and from to is the same for all points on the curve. Eccentricity ( ) = dimensionless number between 0 and 1 is the distance of each focus from the center of the ellipse. Sector velocity = rate at which area (during time and angle , with height and base ) is swept out. The periods of the planets are proportional to the powers of the major axis lengths of their (elliptical orbit around the sun) Same period whether or not the orbit is elliptical or circular. Elliptical: moves at different speeds at different points.
