PHY 409 Homework Assignment #5

1. Solar System Data

The information will be displayed as follows: Planet/Moon, Orbital Semi-Major
Axis (in AU), Orbital Period (In Years)
Mercury, 0.39, 0.24
Venus, 0.72, 0.62
Earth, 1, 1
Mars, 1.52, 1.88
Jupiter, 5.20, 11.86
Saturn, 9.54, 29.46
Uranus, 19.18, 84.01
Neptune, 30.06, 164.8
Moon, 0.00257, 0.0748
2. It's kind of hard to plot in WordPad so I'll take the hit
3. a. MG/R^2 = v^2/R, which implies that MG = Rv^2 = R(2*pi*R/T)^2 = 4
pi^2 R^3/T^2. Using Earth's orbital period and radius, we get that MG =
4pi^2 AU^3/years^2
b. We use the same calculation as in part a, except using the moon's data;
M_e G = 4pi^2 R^3 / T^2 = 4pi^2 (0.00257)^3/(0.0748)^2 AU^3/years^2
= 0.000119772 AU^3/years^2
c. Assuming a circular orbit (because the elliptic curve length is quite difficult
to compute, if you know what I mean), then C = 2piR = 2*pi AU /year
d. v = 2*pi*R/T = 2*pi*(0.00257)/(0.0748) AU/year = 0.215879 AU/year