Exploration 12.3: Properties of Elliptical Orbits
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A planet (green) orbits a star (yellow) as shown in the animation.
Restart.
On a piece of paper sketch vectors for the velocity, radial component of
acceleration, and tangential component of acceleration for the planet. The
length of the vectors should be indicative of the magnitude of the vectors.
- Rank the points, A–E, according to the speed of the planet at that point.
- Rank the points, A–E, according to the gravitational potential energy of
the planet.
- Rank the points, A–E, according to the kinetic energy of the planet.
- Rank the points, A–E, according to the total energy of the planet.
- At which of the points, A–E, is the
planet's acceleration in the same direction as the velocity?
- What can you say about the direction of the planet's acceleration at any
point on its path? Would you call this acceleration a tangential acceleration
or a radial acceleration?
Click here
to view the velocity vector (blue) and acceleration vector (red). Compare
what you see to your answers (a)–(f).
Exploration authored by Aaron Titus with support by the National Science Foundation under
Grant No. DUE-9952323 and placed in the public domain.