Orbits of Planets & Satellites

 

Planetary Motion

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Circular orbits; elliptical orbits with exam problemple; escape velocity; general planetary motion; kinetic energy and momentum of two-particle systems.

Conservation of energy and momentum of orbiting bodies; characteristics of circular, elliptical, hyperbolic, and parabolic orbits; Kepler's Laws, with example.

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Angular Momentum of Orbits

Equations for angular momentum of orbiting bodies; connection of angular momentum and rotational energy to equation of orbit.

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Kepler's Laws and Planetary Motion

Kepler's laws defined; description of Kepler two body problem; reduction of two body problem and solution of one body problem; energy diagram of circular, elliptic, parabolic, and hyperbolic orbits; equations for position, energy, and angular momentum of an orbiting body; properties of an ellipse; Kepler's equal area law defined; Kepler's law for period of orbit.

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Circular Orbits

Motion of spacecraft in orbit around a planet.

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Period of the Moon

Modeling the orbit of the moon and finding its period.

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Planet Orbiting a Star

Motion of a planet orbiting a star through a cloud of dust.

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Synchronous Satellite

Finding the radius of the orbit of a synchronous satellite that circles the earth.

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Gravitational Potential and Kinetic Energy

Energy required to change a satellite's orbit from circular to elliptical.

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Conservation of Energy

Motion of a small mass launched from the surface of the earth.

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Elliptic Orbit

Motion of a satellite in an elliptical orbit around a planet.

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Planetary Orbits

Elliptical orbit of a comet around the sun.

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Elliptical Orbit

Speed and energy at apogee for elliptically orbiting satellite.

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