PHY 311

CLASSICAL MECHANICS
& RELATIVITY

Miss D.D. Muhuyupe

 UNIT 2:
NEWTONIAN
MECHANICS
 NEWTONIAN MECHANICS

26. Planetary Motions

27. Special Problems in Central fields
28. The Earth and our Solar System
26. Planetary Motions

Three Kepler Laws,

Elliptical Orbit
 Elliptical Orbit

Since the orbits of the planets are ellipses, each orbit has

three (1) basic properties:

1. An ellipse is defined by two points, called focus, which

together are called foci.

- The sum of the distances to the foci from any point on the ellipse is always

constant(similar to how the distance to the center of a circle is always constant

and equal to its radius)

2. An ellipse is described by its eccentricity 𝑒 (amount of

flatting)

- The flatter an ellipse the more eccentric it

is.

- The eccentricity is a value between zero (a

circle) and one (a flat line called parabola)

ie 0 ≤ 𝑒 < 1
3. An ellipse has two axes:

- the longest axis is called major axis

- the shortest axis is called minor axis

-the half of the major axis is termed a semi major axis

The orbit of each planet is thus defined by the foci,

eccentricity and two axes.

The geometry of an elliptical orbit.

The orbit of each planet is thus defined by the foci,

eccentricity and two axes.

The geometry of an elliptical orbit.

 KEPLER'S LAWS (THREE LAWS)
Kepler's Laws describe how the planets orbit around the

Sun, and more specifically:

 How planets move in elliptical orbits with the Sun at one
focus (First Law)
 How a planet covers the same area of space in the same
amount of time, no matter where it is in its orbit (Second
Law)
 How the orbital period of a planet is proportional to the
size of its orbit (Third Law)
THREE KEPLER’S LAWS
First law describes the shape of the orbit

Second law is the statement about the orbital velocity.

The third law is the mathematical relation between the

size of the orbit and the orbital period

Kepler's First Law (The Law of Ellipses)

Each planet's orbit about the Sun is an ellipse, with the

Sun's center always located at one focus of the orbital
ellipse. The planet follows the ellipse, making the distance
the planet has to the Sun change constantly.
An ellipse can be described in many ways, but all are more general
equation for conic sections.
Mathematically, in polar coordinates (𝑟, 𝜃), an ellipse can be
represented by the formula:
𝑃
𝑟=
1+𝑒 cos 𝜃
Where
r : distance from the Sun to the planet
p: semi-latus rectum of the conic section, which is half of the
chord parallel to the direct passing through a focus
𝑒: eccentricity of the ellipse
𝜃: the angle of the planet's current position from its closest
approach (perihelion)
At 𝜃 = 0°, perihelion, the distance is minimum:
𝑃
𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛 =
1+𝑒
At 𝜃 = 180°, aphelion, the distance is maximum:
𝑃
𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑥 =
1−𝑒
At 𝜃 = 90° and 𝜃 = 270° the distance equals 𝑝
.
The semi-major axis 𝑎 of the ellipse, is the arithmetic mean
between 𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛 and 𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑥 − 𝑎 = 𝑎 − 𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛
The semi-minor axis 𝑏 of the ellipse, is the geometric mean
between 𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛 and 𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑏
=
𝑏 𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛

𝑝
𝑏=
1 − 𝑒2
The semi-latus rectum 𝑝 is the harmonic mean between
𝑟min and 𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑥
1 1 1 1
− = −
𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑝 𝑝 𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑥

𝑝𝑎 = 𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛 = 𝑏 2
The eccentricity 𝑒 is the coefficient of variation between
𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛 and 𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑥

𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑥 − 𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝑒=
𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑥 + 𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛

The area 𝐴 of an ellipse is given by:

𝐴 = 𝜋𝑎𝑏

For the special case of a circle,

𝑒 = 0, 𝑟 = 𝑝 = 𝑟min = 𝑟max = a = b giving 𝐴 = 𝜋𝑟 2
Eccentricity of the Solar System's planets

Mercury ∶ 𝑒 = 0.206
Venus ∶ 𝑒 = 0.0068
Earth ∶ 𝑒 = 0.0167
Mars ∶ 𝑒 = 0.0934
Jupiter: 𝑒 = 0.0485
Saturn ∶ 𝑒 = 0.0556
Uranus ∶ 𝑒 = 0.0472
Neptune ∶ 𝑒 = 0.0086

The ellipses of all but Mercury and Mars are basically

circles.
Kepler's Second Law (The Law of Equal Areas)

Drawing an imaginary line from the center of the sun to the center of
the planet will sweep out equal areas in equal intervals of time. In
other words, the planets do not move inconstant speed along their
orbits, but the speed various based on the distance to the sun.

The closer the planet is to the sun the faster it moves, the further
away the slower it moves.
The nearest approach is termed perihelion, whilst the greatest
separation a aphelion.
The orbital radius and angular velocity of the planet vary during its
elliptical orbit.
During infinitesimal time dt, the planet sweeps out a small triangle
with base line 𝑟 and height 𝑟𝑑𝜃 ,with area:

1
𝑑𝐴 = ∙ 𝑟 ∙ 𝑟𝑑𝜃
2
and so a planet has the following constant areal velocity

𝑑𝐴 𝑟 2 𝑑𝜃
=
𝑑𝑡 2 𝑑𝑡
:
Kepler's Third Law (The Law of Harmonies)

The period of a planet's orbit increases rapidly with the radius of its
orbit. More specifi callythe law states that:

The squares of the orbital periods of the planets are directly

proportional to the cubes of the semi major axes of their orbits.
Combining Kepler's Third Law with Newton's Law of Gravitation, the
following equation comes out:

𝑇 2 4𝜋 2
3
=
𝑎 𝐺𝑀
Using this law its easier to compare the orbits of the various planets
with each other. For example in the case of the Earth and Mars:
Earth:
Period = 3.156 × 107 secs
Average Distance = 1.4957 × 1011 m
and 𝑇 2 /𝑎3 = 2.977 × 10−19 𝑠 2 /𝑚3
Mars:
Period = 5.930 × 107 secs
Average Distance = 2.2780 × 1011 m
and 𝑇 2 /𝑎3 = 2.975 × 10−19 𝑠 2 /𝑚3
SUMMARY
Kerpler’s Law of Planetary Motion
1. The law of orbits: All planets are moving on ellipses.
The sun stands in one of their focal points.
2. The law of Area: The radius vector sun-planet covers
equal area in equal times.

3. The Law of Period: The squares of the revolution

periods of two planets are related to each other as the
cubes of the large semi-axes of their trajectories.