Processing math: 100%

Dec 4, 2012

Newton's Law of Gravity for Solar System Planets (visualization)

According to Newtonian gravity theory v(r)=GMr
If the orbit is circular, the speed is simply proportional to 1/r. For general cases, however, after some derivation, the average speed, ˉv=12π2π0dθv(θ)=GMa2E(2ϵ1+ϵ)π1ϵ,
where E(z)=π20(1zsin2θ)1/2dθ is the elliptic function. Note that E(0)=π2, restoring the circular motion result. So, the average speed is proportional to 1a where a is the semi-major axis.

Fig. 1: the semi-major axis vs. average orbital speed for solar system planets in linear coordinates

Fig. 2: the semi-major axis vs. average orbital speed for solar system planets in logarithmic coordinates
The best fit of the slope gives 29.779763 km/s/AU, which is about the earth average orbital speed. Using the data of solar mass and gravitational constant, the average eccentricity is about 0.0195386. This is the absolute value. 

No comments:

Post a Comment