Kepler's law of planetary motion.Expressing governing them.
ScanSolve AI Answer
Kepler's laws of planetary motion describe the orbits of planets around the Sun. There are three laws:
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First Law (Law of Ellipses): The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci.
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Second Law (Law of Equal Areas): A line joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time. This implies that a planet moves faster when it is closer to the Sun and slower when it is farther away.
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Third Law (Law of Harmonies): The square of the orbital period (T) of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis (a) of its orbit. Mathematically, this is expressed as:
T² ∝ a³
Or, more precisely, for orbits around the Sun:
T² = (4π²)/(GM) × a³
Where:
- T is the orbital period.
- a is the semi-major axis of the elliptical orbit.
- π is the mathematical constant pi.
- G is the universal gravitational constant.
- M is the mass of the Sun.
These laws were derived empirically by Johannes Kepler from Tycho Brahe's meticulous astronomical observations and were later explained by Isaac Newton's law of universal gravitation.
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