EXPERIMENT 4: Ellipses and Kepler’s Laws

Submitted by: __________________________________

Lab Partners: _______________________________________________________

Date of Experiment: ______________

Teaching Assistant: ______________________________

Pre-Questions /5
Data &
/25
Calculations
Discussion /20

Total /50

Lab Instructor’s
Initials

You must have your lab instructor initial this cover page before you leave lab.

The Policy of the Physics Department for working together as a group is as follows:

1. Data taken as a group should be identical with the person(s) you worked with on the experiment. Each
person in the group should participate in the taking of the data to check on the reliability of the group’s data
and to demonstrate each person’s ability to run the experiment.

2. Pre-Questions, Calculations, and Discussion answers must be done individually. Identical parts with
another person’s work will result in both receiving a zero score for that portion.

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Experiment 4: Ellipses and Kepler’s Laws

Pre-lab Questions: Type the answers to these questions on a separate sheet of paper and
hand them in at the beginning of the lab period.

1. State Kepler’s second law.

2. What is perihelion? What is aphelion? Which one of these does a planet have its greatest
speed?

An ellipse can be drawn with two push-pins and a loop of string, where the push-pins are at the
foci (denoted as F on the illustration) and a pencil moving around the “inside” of the string loop
and about the two push-pins.

F F

Draw such an ellipse on a piece of 1/4 inch quadrille paper (quarter inch spacing graph paper),
pushing the push-pins through the paper and into a soft board. Construct a loop of string which
passes around the two thumbtacks with some extra slack (not too much though). Draw the
ellipse with a pencil pushing outward on the string, keeping the string taut with a consistent
force as you go around.

Measure the major axis (large diameter) of the ellipse and the distance between foci. The
eccentricity is the ratio of the distance between foci to the major axis distance. Measure these
with a ruler and determine the eccentricity of your ellipse.

Draw a second ellipse with the same string but with a different separation of the two push-pins.
Determine its eccentricity, also. State in words the relationship between the eccentricities and
the “shapes” of the ellipses which you drew.

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According to Kepler, planets move in elliptical paths with the Sun located at one focus. The
point on the ellipse nearest to this focus is called perihelion. The point on the ellipse farthest
from this focus is called aphelion. Kepler’s second law states that as a planet moves in its
elliptical orbit an imaginary line drawn from the Sun to the planet will sweep out equal areas in
equal time intervals. See what this means on your ellipse. Draw one line with a ruler from a
chosen focus (representing the Sun’s position) to the ellipse. Now, rotate the ruler (keeping one
end at the chosen focus) until 25 squares are enclosed in the “wedge”, or “pie piece” shape that
you have swept out. Draw your second line from the focus to the ellipse that your ruler is now
at. Mark these squares with an O, counting and marking those squares in the “wedge” which
are complete squares and those which are more than half of a square. Ignore the rest. Move the
ruler around, sweeping out the next area of 25 squares and mark these with an X to avoid
confusion with the previous area, draw the new straight line from focus to ellipse, etc. Continue
to do this until you are more than half way around the ellipse. The points where these straight
lines meet the ellipse represent successive positions of the planet at equal time intervals.

Perihelion F Aphelion

If we suppose the time interval was one second, the distance between positions divided by one
second gives the average speed for this time interval, which is also approximately the speed at
the middle of the chosen arc. Make a graph of this average speed as a function of time. Where
is the speed the fastest? Where is it the slowest?

Suppose this motion is real motion at this speed and scale of a mass going around a small
concentrated mass (a black hole?). The attraction at perihelion must provide the centripetal
force necessary to keep it moving at near constant speed in what is close to being a circle near
perihelion. You know the speed, and with a compass can estimate the radius of this “circle”.
Determine the centripetal acceleration at perihelion. According to Newton’s Law of Gravitation
this acceleration must be the acceleration of gravity at this point.

𝑀 𝑣2 𝑣2 𝑀
𝑔 = 𝐺 ( 2) and 𝑎𝑐 = are combined to get = 𝐺 ( 2)
𝑟 𝑟 𝑟 𝑟

N m2
Where G = 6.6710 11 2
.
kg

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Use the above relationships to find the mass of the object at the focus needed to maintain the
elliptical motion of the satellite object

Data:

Ellipse 1

Major Axis Distance = ____________ Distance between Foci = ____________

Eccentricity of Ellipse 1 = ___________________________

Speed at perihelion = ____________ Radius of “circular” path at perihelion = ____________

Determine the mass of object at the focus:

Mass of object at the focus = ___________________

Ellipse 2

Major Axis Distance = ____________ Distance between Foci = ____________

Eccentricity of Ellipse 2 = ___________________________

Speed at perihelion = ____________ Radius of “circular” path at perihelion = ____________

Determine the mass of object at the focus:

Mass of object at the focus = ___________________

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Describe the relationship of the eccentricity to the shape of ellipse 1:

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

Describe the relationship of the eccentricity to the shape of ellipse 2 and compare it to that of
ellipse 1:

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

Perihelion
Distance

Aphelion
Distance

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Kepler’s Second Law:

Ellipse 1 Ellipse 2
TIME AVERAGE TIME AVERAGE
SPEED SPEED

Graph this data “Average Speed versus Time” on two separate sheets of graph paper.

Mark on your graphs the point at which the object has its fastest speed. Mark on your graphs
the point at which the object has its slowest speed. At what points on the actual ellipses do
these two speeds occur? Label these points on your two ellipses.

Attach the drawings of the two ellipses and their graphs to the end of this report.

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Questions for Discussion:

1. Earth has an Aphelion distance of 152,098,232 kilometers and a Perihelion distance of

147,098,290 kilometers. Determine the eccentricity of Earth’s orbit. (show work)

2. Mars has an Aphelion distance of 249,209,300 kilometers and a Perihelion distance of

206,669,000 kilometers. Determine the eccentricity of Mar’s orbit. (show work)

3. Compare the eccentricity of Earth to the eccentricity of Mars. Describe the shape of Earth’s
elliptical orbit to that of Mars’ elliptical orbit.

4. In the northern hemisphere of Earth what season is experienced at Aphelion? Explain your
answer.