Orbital Motion - Gravity - Physics

Have you ever wondered why the Moon, although attracted by the Earth, never falls on it? Instead, our Moon describes a circular path around it. How come? This course will make you understand why.

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By taking this class, you will gain an understanding of Orbital Motion. Orbital Motion combines the laws of gravity with the principles of circular motion. This concept is detailed in the first video (5.1) where you will learn what is an orbit and realise how the velocity of an orbiting object can define its orbit.

The three videos that follow are training exercises showing fun stuff you can do with orbital motion equations, like determining the speed of the Earth, calculating the mass of Jupiter or exploring the intricacies of the Saturnian system. This latter exercise will allow you to discover a celestial Law: The 3rd Law of Kepler that links the period of revolution of a body to the distance to the massive object it is orbiting around.

To exemplify this, we will fly far beyond Neptune, deep into the Kuiper belt, where dozens of mysterious draft planets live their frozen lives. We will also play closer to Earth, like calculating the height at which a TV satellite must be launched!

Finally, for those interested in animation, Video 5.8 shows how to use the 3rd law of Kepler to design the motion of a bunch planets orbiting a star.

*** Content of the class *** Video 5.0: Introduction Video 5.1: Lesson – Orbital Motion Video 5.2: Training Exercise – The Speed of the Earth Video 5.3: Training Exercise – The Mass of Jupiter Video 5.4: Training Exercise – The Moons of Saturn Video 5.5: Lesson – The 3rd Law of Kepler Video 5.6: Training Exercise – Geostationary Orbits Video 5.7: Training Exercise – A Visit to the Kuiper Belt Video 5.8: Application Example – the 3rd Law of Kepler at the service of animation

All training exercises are provided as pdf files and formatted so that you can print the exercise and work on them away from the computer. Answers are provided also in a pdf document.

*** This class is part of a larger course named “Gravity, The Basics”.***

“Gravity, The Basics” explores the elementary notions of Newtonian gravity.

Class 1: “Linear Motion” (because being comfortable with this notion will allow you to make the most of the full course). This class presents a step-by-step technique to solve all motion problems when the accelerat ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pscjD0hGtek