Laws of Motion
What laws govern the motion of objects in our solar system and the rest of the universe? Let's begin by investigating the evolution of man's thought about how the solar system works.
For this unit please record the following in your notebook or journal: 1) Kepler's Law's, 2) Newton's Three Laws of Motion, 3) the equation for centripetal force and 4) Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation.
ACTIVITIES on the Evolution of Our Model of the Solar System
*Models of the Solar System - handout*
A brief investigation into the evolution of our model of the solar system.
*The Black box - handout*
Use either the Apple computer program or cardboard "black boxes" to investigate how models can be made of the unknown by their interaction with other objects.
*History and Philosophy of Western Astronomy - online activity*
Handouts are available also although the animations will not work, obviously. Read the Ancient Greek, Renaissance and Kepler's Laws sections and answer all review questions. (Some questions may be skipped according to math ability - see the teacher).
ACTIVITIES to introduce planetary orbits
*Drawing Inner Planetary Orbits - handout*
In this activity you will be constructing the inner planetary orbits to scale and investigating the eccentricities of the planets orbits.
*Tracking Saturn's Moons - computer activity*
Find the location of Saturn in tonight's sky at 9 PM EDT using Solar System Live.
Download the program Satellites of Saturn from Dan' Astronomy Software to see the positions of Saturn's major moons at the same time. A Macintosh version of the program, MacSATSAT is also available in the classroom (from the Astronomer's Comper Companion CD-ROM). Sketch the Earth view, showing the positions of the moons with respect to Saturn. Animate the program. What do you notice about the velocities of the satellites relative to their distance from Saturn? Using information from the table, graph period of orbit vs radius. (You may use the Graphical Analysis programs on the computer in the classroom.) What is the relationship between the two? Use the information given to draw the orbits of the given moons to scale around Saturn (the polar view) Sketch the position of the moons for tonight at 9 PM EDT.
ACTIVITIES on Kepler's Laws
*Basics of Space Flight Learner's Workbook Chapter 3 - online activity*
Read chapter 3 of this Jet Propulsion Laboratory training Manual and turn in the recap questions and answers. This book is also available as a download.
State and diagram each of Kepler's three laws governing planetary motion. Revisit the activity on Saturn's moons to see if this data obeys Kepler's Laws. You may wish to do the activity again.
*Kepler's Laws and the Orbit of Mercury - available as a handout or a download for PCs
This is a graphing and thinking exercise illustrating Kepler's Law's based on data from Mercury's Orbit.
EXTENSION: "The Moon's of Saturn" is available as a handout or from the same source above. This exercise requires a bit more calculation than the previous.
*Experiment 8.1 Kepler's Law's - handout (from Merrill Physics Lab Manual)
This is very similar to the activity above but a bit simpler to understand - this should be done IN PLACE of the activity above.