AST101H1 Chapter Notes -Inverse-Square Law, Orbital Period, Tidal Acceleration
27 Dec 2013
School
Department
Course
Professor
23
AST101H1 Full Course Notes
Verified Note
23 documents
Document Summary
* in astronomy the most important force is gravity because it governs virtually all large-scale motion in the universe * That is, the gravitational force follows an inverse square law with distance. All three statements can be combined into a single equation(4. 5): Where fg is the force of gravitational attraction, m1 and m2 are the masses of the two objects, and d is the distance between their centers. Where m1 and m2 are the masses of the two objects, p is their orbital period, and a is the distance between their centers. 4. 5 orbits, tides, and the acceleration of gravity. * newton"s law of universal gravitation explains kepler"s laws of planetary motion * Role of energy in orbits: orbital energy: a planet"s total sum of its kinetic and gravitational potential energies always stays the same. This fact is a consequence of the law of conservation of energy: gravitational encounters:
