SHS

Lesson 1: Newton’s Laws and Kepler’s Laws

A space vehicle, when not under power, is governed by the laws
which determine the motions of stars, planets, and comets. Johannes
Kepler (1571-1630) used inductive reasoning to formulate laws to fit the
astronomical observations and calculations given him by his patron,
Tycho Brahe. Newton, in his Principia Mathematica (1687), showed that
kind of planetary motion described by Kepler’s laws can be deduced
from the universal law of gravitation.
Kepler’s careful analysis of Tycho Brahe’s data regarding the
positions and periods of the planets led him to deduce and formulate
his three laws of planetary motion. The three laws can be stated as
follows:
1) The law of orbits state that the planets move in elliptical orbits
with the sun at one of the foci of the ellipse.
 According to the first law of planetary motion by Kepler, the
planets are moving in elliptical orbits. The elliptical orbit has two
foci. The sun is found in one of the two foci. The sum of the
distances of any point in the ellipse to the two foci is constant.
As the two foci come closer to one another, the semi-major axis
and the semi minor axis become almost equal to one another, so
the orbit becomes a circle. The distance of the closest approach
is called perigee or perihelion, while the distance of the
farthest approach is called apogee or aphelion.
2) The law of areas states that a straight line drawn from the sun to the
planet sweeps equal areas at equal intervals of time.

Figure 2. Diagram of Kepler’s second law

Shown in Figure 2 is an illustration that will help you understand
Kepler’s second law of planetary motion better. The elliptical path of a
planet has been subdivided into segments covered at equal time intervals. It
means that the time it takes from point A to point B is the same as the time it
takes for the planet to travel from point C to point D. According to the law of
areas, the shaded areas MAB is equal to the shaded area of MCD.
 3) The law of periods states that the squares of the periods of the planets
are proportional to the cubes of their average distances from the sun.
The third law of planetary motion by Kepler can be written in equation
form as
where T is the period of the planet which is the time it takes for
T2 = r3
the planet to make one complete revolution around the sun and
r is the average or mean distance of the planet from the sun.

Relationship of Kepler’s laws to Newton’s Laws

 Since the planets move on ellipses (1 st law of Kepler), they are
continually accelerating. Therefore, a force is acting continuously on
the planets.
 Because the planet-sun line sweeps out equal areas in equal times (2 nd
law of Kepler), it is possible to show that the force must be directed
toward the sun from the planet.
 From Kepler’s 1st law, the orbit is an ellipse with the sun at the focus
whereas from Newton’s laws, it can be shown that this means that the
magnitude of the force must vary as one over the square of the
distance between the planet and the sun.
 Kepler’s 3rd law and Newton’s 3rd law imply that the force must be
proportional to the product of the masses for the planet and the sun.

Conclusion
Thus, Kepler’s laws and Newton’s laws taken together imply that the
force that holds the planets in their orbits by continuously changing the
planet’s velocity so that it follows an elliptical path; is directed toward the sun
from the planet; proportional to the product of masses for the sun and planet;
and inversely proportional to the square of the planet-sun separation. This is
precisely the form of the gravitational force, with the universal gravitational
constant (G) as the constant of proportionality. Thus, Newton’s laws of
motion, with a gravitational force used in the 2 nd law, imply Kepler’s laws, and
the planets obey the same laws of motion as objects on the surface of the
earth.