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Testing the Validity of Newton’s Generalization of Kepler’s 3 rd Law for Planetary Motion

Introduction

During the first discoveries of the solar system, Claudius Ptolemy came up with the

Ptolemaic model. It was the theory that the Earth was at the center of the universe and all

other objects revolved around it. Another Greek philosopher, Aristarchus, then came up

with the heliocentric model. Aristarchus visualized the Moon in orbit around a spherical

Earth and the Earth in orbit around the Sun. His model was rejected, but he was able to

find the relative sizes and distances of the Moon, Earth and Sun. 1800 years later

Copernicus then proposed his idea of the heliocentric model with a Sun centered solar

system. Copernicus’ system revived many of the ideas of Aristarchus. The Copernican

model was no better in making long term predictions than the Ptolemaic model since

Copernicus had relied on circular orbits.

Then Johannes Kepler, who was employed by Tycho Brahe, was assigned to working on

the models of planetary motion. Kepler’s laws and his revisions of the heliocentric

Copernican model solved the data-fitting problem of this model. Kepler provided the

means to have a heliocentric model that made excellent predictions for planetary positions.

Kepler first hypothesized that there was a force that kept the planets near the sun, which is

now identified as gravity.

Kepler’s then came up with his third law that states: The ratio of the cube of the semi

major axis of a planet’s orbit to the square of its orbital period around the Sun is the same

for each planet. This law can be easily understood when explained in symbols with A=

semi major axis of the planet’s elliptical orbit, which equals the approximate average
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distance from the planet to the Sun; P= the planet’s orbital period, which equals the time it

takes the planet to complete a full orbit around the Sun, relative to the stars. We call this

the sidereal period. C= a constant whose value depends on the physical units used for A

and P. In Kepler’s third law, any units of measure can be used for the period and the

distance. We choose units that make the calculation simple by using the time in years and

the average distance in AU.

Kepler provided the means to have a heliocentric model that made excellent predictions

for planetary positions however, this model was limited since Kepler could not provide the

reasoning for why it worked from a successful theory for forces. Kepler’s laws were

accepted, because they seemed to work. This leads to the significance of Newton’s work.

Newton was able to provide the correct description for forces and their influence on

motion. Newton came up with his three laws of motion that describe the relationship

between the forces acting on a body and the motion of that body. Newton’s three laws of

motion when combined with his proposed universal theory for gravitational attraction

could derive Kepler’s laws, thereby explaining but more importantly also generalizing them

beyond just planets orbiting the Sun. The scope of our research project is to test the

validity of Newton’s generalization for any object in a gravitationally bound orbit.

Theory

Newton took the Sun as the source that was responsible for the motion of the

planes. He showed that a planetary orbit will be elliptical if, and only if the centripetal

force caries as 1/d2 the Sun. He proved Kepler’s first law. He also showed that under the

influence of the gravitational force between an object and a stationary body, the object’s

orbit could be elliptical. Newton showed that Kepler’s second law results from the fact that
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the gravitational force acting on an object orbiting the sun always points toward the sun.

Finally, using his laws of motion and laws of gravity, Newton modified Kepler’s third law,

which now can be used for any two objects orbiting each other as a result of their mutual

gravitational attraction.

Let’s now look at Jupiter, which is the biggest planet in our solar system. In a

scientist’s eyes they see the moons that orbit Jupiter as satellites. Jupiter has over 60

satellites orbiting around it. There are four satellites that we are most focused on during

this research. The data that will be collected will help us test the validity of Newton’s

generalization of Kepler’s third law for planetary motion. The satellites are Io, Europa,

Ganymede, and Callisto. These satellites were discovered by Galileo Galilei in January of

1610. He concluded that they were objects that orbit around the planet, just as the planets

themselves revolve around the Sun in the heliocentric model. This is why today we call

these four satellites the Galilean moons of Jupiter.

Newton’s formulations of Kepler’s third law for a binary system is

a3 G
2
= 2 × ( m 1 +m 2 ). Where a = semi major axis, p = period of the orbit, m 1+ m 2 = the masses
p 4π

of two objects, and G = gravitational constant. We can use these formulas to test the

validity of Newton’s generalization of Kepler’s third law. In order to do this, we need to

find the orbital periods and distances of the four satellites.

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By using our simulation

software of Jupiter and the four

Galilean satellites, it allows for us

to make observations of the

positions of the moons and in

steps that are indicated in units

of hours and easily convert them

into years. In this paper we will

explain the importance of this

topic and testing the validity of Newton’s generalization of Kepler’s third law.

Results/Conclusions

To start off we must find the point of zero or the origin for the coordinate system of

the pixels in these digital images to begin the measurements. In the top left hand corner of

the program is our XY coordinates of (0, 0). As we move down on the scale the Y value gets

bigger and as we move right on the scale our X value gets bigger. As we make

measurements they will be in pixels and will need to be converted to the correct units

distance needed. We only needed to calculate the X value, because the Y value is a constant

as we are viewing Jupiter horizontally.

To begin our observation we started by finding the diameter of Jupiter. We know

that the diameter of Jupiter in kilometers is 142,984. [ CITATION The07 \l 1033 ] We first

measured Jupiter from the left to the right side on the center of the object. The program

gives us X and Y coordinates when we click on the digital images. The left side of Jupiter

the X value measured at 275. On the right side we get an X value of 355. To find the
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diameter of Jupiter we subtract the two numbers giving us the answer, 80 pixels. During

the simulation we have to change magnification to be able to view all of the moons and

improve accuracy of our measurements. The results for the diameter of Jupiter will be

different for each moon based on the magnification. For each moon we must find the

radius and the orbital period.

We can find if the moon has a circular orbit by measuring the X value of the moon

when it is at its furthest point on the left and right side of Jupiter. If they are close then we

know that it has a circular orbit. The first moon that we measured results from is Io. The

first thing we needed to find was the radius of Io’s orbit of Jupiter. In order to find the

radius we measured Io at its farthest point on the left or right side in its orbit around

Jupiter. We then recorded the X value of Io at its furthest point and then measure the X

value in the middle of Jupiter. The X value for Io at its furthest point on the right side is 551

pixels, and the X value for the center of Jupiter is 314 pixels. The X value for the center of

Jupiter continued throughout our observation as the same for each planet, due to the planet

keeping the same position during our entire simulation. After we recorded the two X

values, we subtracted the two numbers. The result is 237 pixels. We then convert the

number to AU to find the radius of Io.

237 pixels ( 14280,pixels

984 km 1 AU
)( 150∗10
6
=
33,887,208
Km ) ( 1.2∗10 )
10
=2.8∗10−3
AU

To check that we were finding valid results, we can check the answers documented

by our book. [ CITATION The07 \l 1033 ]

237 pixels ( 14280,pixels

984 km
)=423,590.1 km
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The book calculates the average distance of Io from Jupiter as 421,000.6. We can

see from this calculation that we are close with our own calculation.

After finding the radius of Io we then move on to find the orbital period. In doing so,

we must start Io at its farther point as we did when we were finding the radius. When Io is

at its furthest point, we record the date and time, we then must let Io orbit around Jupiter

until it reaches its farthest point on the opposite side. Once Io has reached the next point

we record the date and time. We then figure out by these measurements how long it takes

for Io to orbit halfway around the planet. We then take this number and multiple it by two

to find the complete time it takes for Io to make a complete orbit. From the results we

found that it takes Io 42 hours to make a complete rotation around Jupiter. We must

convert this into years.

42 h ours ( 241day 1 year 42

h ours )( 365 days ) 8760
= =.0048 years

After we have found the orbital period of Io we must then use the radius and orbital

period and insert it into Newton’s generalization formula to find the mass of Jupiter.

Final Result:
3
( 2.8∗10−3 ) 2.2∗10−8
( (.0048 )2 )(
=
2.3∗10−5)=9.5∗10−4 solar masses

Now that we have found the Mass of Jupiter we can compare it to the actual mass of

Jupiter to verify that our calculations are the same as Newton’s. From here we did the

same thing for each moon and calculated the mass of Jupiter. All of the measurements were

taken in pixels and then converted into the correct units.

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Europa: Radius- 282 Pixels

Orbital Period- 87 hours

Radius:
282 pixels ( 142, 984 km
58 pixels ) ( 1 AU
150∗10 Km )
6
=
( 40,321,488
8.7∗10 )
=4.6∗10
10
−3
AU

Problem Check:
142, 984 km
282 pixels (
58 pixels )
=695,198.069 km

Books Calculation of Europa= 670,000 km.

Orbital Period:

87 h ours ( 241day )( 1 year

)=
87
h ours 365 days 8760
=.0099 years

Final Result:
3
( 4.6∗10−3 ) 9.7336∗10−8
( ( .0099 )2 )(
=
9.80100∗10 −5 )
=9.9∗10−4 solar masses

Ganymede: Radius- 299 pixels

Orbital Period- 181 hours

Radius:
299 pixels ( 14239,pixels
984 km 1 AU
)( 150∗10 6
=
42,752,216
Km ) ( 5.85∗10 )
=7.3∗10
9
−3
AU

Problem Check:
142 , 984 km
299 pixels (
39 pixels )
=1,096 , 210 km

Book Calculation of Ganymede: 1,070,000 km

Obital Period:
1 day
177 h ours (
24 h ours )( 3651 year =
177
days ) 8760
=.0202 years

Final Result:
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3
( 7.31∗10−3 ) 3.9∗10−7
( (.0202 )2 )(
=
4.1∗10 −4 )
=9.51∗10−4 solar masses

Callisto: Radius- 263 pixels

Orbital Period- 400 hours

Radius:
263 pixels ( 14219,pixels
984 km 1 AU
)( 150∗10 Km )=
( 42,752,216
6
5.85∗10 )
=1.3∗10
9
−2
AU

Problem Check:
142 , 984 km
263 pixels (
19 pixels )
=1,979,199.58

Books Calculation of Callisto: 1,883,000 km

400 h ours ( 241hdayours )( 3651 year =

400
days ) 8760
=.0457 years

3
( 1.3∗10−2 ) 2.197∗10−6
( ( .0457 )2 )(
=
2.08∗10−3 )
=1.05∗10−3 solar masses

After we had found all of the masses of Jupiter from the moons we then must

average the numbers. The average for the four numbers equals9.85∗10− 4 solar masses .

Then after we have found the average we can find the standard deviation average of all the

numbers, which equals 4.07 * 10−5 solar masses. We must then convert our average into

kilograms to check if the results is the same number as the book: 1.96 * 1027 kg . We must

also convert our standard deviation into kilograms so we can compare our calculations.

Our standard deviation in kilograms is 8.095 * 1025 kg. We then take the mass that our book

has calculated for Jupiter, which is 1.899 * 1027 kg , to prove that our data is accurate

information we must subtract our average with the books answer, which is 6.1 *1025. When
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we compare this with our standard deviation, we can see that we are only off by 2, which

means that the calculations that we got are correct to prove our results.

This graph is another way to prove that Newton’s generalization of Kepler’s third

law is correct.

In conclusion, we have been able to test the validity of Newton’s generalization of

Kepler’s third law. By finding our own calculations we have been able to compare them to

the same calculations as Kepler and Newton did, and we discovered the results of what

these scientists were able to prove with the calculations.

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Bibliography

Kuhn, T. K. (2007). Data Page: Jupiter. In T. K. Kuhn, In Quest of the Universe 5th Edition
(p. 607). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers .