Multiple Choice
Io and Ganymede are two of Jupiter's four Galilean moons. Io orbits at an average distance of 422,000km in 1.77 days. What is Ganymede's average orbital distance (in km), if it takes 4 times longer to orbit Jupiter?
8. Centripetal Forces & Gravitation
Kepler's Third Law
Back8. Centripetal Forces & Gravitation
Kepler's Third Law
- Open Question
(I) The asteroid Icarus, though only a few hundred meters across, orbits the Sun like the planets. Its period is 410 d. What is its mean distance from the Sun?
- Open QuestionThe dwarf planet Pluto has an elliptical orbit with a semimajor axis of 5.91 * 1012 m and eccentricity 0.249. (b) During Pluto's orbit around the sun, what are its closest and farthest distances from the sun?
- Open QuestionA new planet is discovered orbiting the star Vega in a circular orbit. The planet takes 55 earth years to complete one orbit around the star. Vega's mass is 2.1 times the sun's mass. What is the radius of the planet's orbit? Give your answer as a multiple of the radius of the earth's orbit.
- Open Question"A satellite orbits the sun with a period of 1.0 day. What is the radius of its orbit?"
- Open QuestionA small moon orbits its planet in a circular orbit at a speed of 7.5 km/s. It takes 28 hours to complete one full orbit. What is the mass of the planet?
- Open QuestionThe solar system is 25,000 light years from the center of our Milky Way galaxy. One light year is the distance light travels in one year at a speed of 3.0 x 10⁸ m/s . Astronomers have determined that the solar system is orbiting the center of the galaxy at a speed of 230 km/s . (d) Assume that the sun is a typical star with a typical mass. If galactic matter is made up of stars, approximately how many stars are in the center of the galaxy?
- Open QuestionThe asteroid belt circles the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. One asteroid has a period of 5.0 earth years. What are the asteroid's orbital radius and speed?
- Open Question
(III) The comet Hale–Bopp has an orbital period of 2400 years.
(a) What is its mean distance from the Sun?
- Open Question
(I) Neptune is an average distance of 4.5 x 10⁹ km from the Sun. Estimate the length of the Neptunian year using the fact that the Earth is 1.50 x 10⁸ km from the Sun on average.
- Open Question
(II) A science fiction writer imagines a planet that has three times the mass of the Earth orbiting a star that has twice the mass of our Sun. The writer wants the planet’s “year” to be 10% longer than Earth’s orbital period. At what mean distance should she place the planet from its star?
- Open Question
(II) Determine the mean distance from Jupiter for each of Jupiter’s principal moons, using Kepler’s third law. Use the mean distance of Io and the periods given in Table 6–3.
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- Open Question
(III) The comet Hale–Bopp has an orbital period of 2400 years.
(c) What is the ratio of the speed at the closest point to the speed at the farthest point?
- Open Question
(III) The comet Hale–Bopp has an orbital period of 2400 years.
(b) At its closest approach, the comet is about 1.0 astronomical unit from the Sun ( 1 AU = distance from Earth to the Sun). What is the farthest distance?
- Open Question
(II) Determine the mean distance from Jupiter for each of Jupiter’s principal moons, using Kepler’s third law. Use the mean distance of Io and the periods given in Table 6–3. Compare your results to the values in Table 6–3. <IMAGE>