Physics

Chapter 7 Outline

Gravitation and Planetary Motion

Overview - Newton's law of gravitation and Kepler's laws of planetary motion

Objective: - Help for chapter 8

Start Date: - Oct.11,2006

Due Date: - Oct. 18, 2006

Suggested Timeframe: - Study Guides due Oct 17h, Homework due Oct. 17th. Test Oct 18th. Lab Due Mar.18th.

Assignment: - 

8.1 Motion in the Heavens and on Earth.

-Kepler's laws of planetary motion state that planets move in elliptical orbits, that they sweep out equal areas in equal times, and that the ratio of the square of the periods of any two planets is equal to the ratio of the cube of their distances to the sun.

-Newton's law of universal gravitation states that the force between two bodies depends on the product of their masses divided by the square of the distance  between their centers.

-The mass of the sun can be found from the period and radius of a planet's orbit. The mass of the planet can be found  if it has a satellite orbiting it.

-Cavendish was the first to measure the gravitational attraction between two bodies on earth.

8.2 Using the Law of Universal Gravitation

-A satellite in a circular orbit accelerates toward Earth at a rate equal to the acceleration of gravity at its orbital radius.

-All bodies have gravitational fields surrounding them that can be represented by a collection of vectors representing the force per unit mass at all locations.

-Einstein's theory of relativity describes gravitational attraction as a property of space itself.

Web Resources:

• Predict satellite appearances here
  Plug in your position on earth and predict the appearances of satellites.
• Keplers Laws of Planetary Motion
  A good tutorial of planetary motion
• Extra credit here

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