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    This document discusses the history of cosmology and the scientific discoveries that led to the heliocentric model of the solar system. It describes how early astronomers believed in a geocentric model where Earth is the center, but Aristarchus first proposed that the planets instead orbit the Sun. Copernicus later developed the heliocentric model through observations of planetary periods and distances. Kepler then formulated his laws of planetary motion based on ellipses. Newton later established universal gravitation and his laws of motion, providing a scientific explanation for Kepler's laws and the motions of the planets.

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    This document discusses the history of cosmology and the scientific discoveries that led to the heliocentric model of the solar system. It describes how early astronomers believed in a geocentric model where Earth is the center, but Aristarchus first proposed that the planets instead orbit the Sun. Copernicus later developed the heliocentric model through observations of planetary periods and distances. Kepler then formulated his laws of planetary motion based on ellipses. Newton later established universal gravitation and his laws of motion, providing a scientific explanation for Kepler's laws and the motions of the planets.

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    This document discusses the history of cosmology and the scientific discoveries that led to the heliocentric model of the solar system. It describes how early astronomers believed in a geocentric model where Earth is the center, but Aristarchus first proposed that the planets instead orbit the Sun. Copernicus later developed the heliocentric model through observations of planetary periods and distances. Kepler then formulated his laws of planetary motion based on ellipses. Newton later established universal gravitation and his laws of motion, providing a scientific explanation for Kepler's laws and the motions of the planets.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    2K views20 pages

    CH 2

    Uploaded by

    james
    This document discusses the history of cosmology and the scientific discoveries that led to the heliocentric model of the solar system. It describes how early astronomers believed in a geocentric model where Earth is the center, but Aristarchus first proposed that the planets instead orbit the Sun. Copernicus later developed the heliocentric model through observations of planetary periods and distances. Kepler then formulated his laws of planetary motion based on ellipses. Newton later established universal gravitation and his laws of motion, providing a scientific explanation for Kepler's laws and the motions of the planets.

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    of 20

    Gravitation and the motion

    of the planets

    Science: Key to comprehending the cosmos


    The ancient Greeks about 2500 years ago began to use mathematics
    to describe nature.
    This eventually lead to the development of the scientific method.
    Scientific method: Make observations, then make or modify a theory
    to fit the observations, then use the theory to make predictions.

    Changing our earth-centered view of the


    universe
    Cosmology is the theory of the structure and evolution of the
    universe.
    Early astronomers believed in geocentric cosmology. This is where the
    earth is at the center of the universe and everything else orbits
    around it.
    But this idea made it very difficult to explain and come up with a
    model for the motion of the other planets.

    Heliocentric cosmology
    The ancient Greek astronomer Aristarchus of Samos proposed a
    simpler explanation for the motion of the planets. He proposed that
    all the planets including the earth orbit the sun.
    This the theory of heliocentric (sun-centered) cosmology.

    Later Nicolaus Copernicus devised a comprehensive heliocentric


    cosmology.

    Copernicus observations
    Copernicus was able to figure out the synodic period, and sidereal
    period of many of the planets.
    He was also able to figure out the distance from the sun for many of
    the planets.

    Synodic period
    The synodic period is the time between two successive identical
    configurations as seen from earth.

    Sidereal period
    A sidereal period is the time it takes an object to make one complete
    orbit around the sun.

    Parallax
    Parallax is a difference in apparent position of an object as seen at
    two different locations. This can be used to find out how far away
    something is.

    Keplers laws
    Johannes Kepler came up with three laws that deal with the orbits of
    planets around the sun.

    Keplers first law


    The orbit of each planet around the sun is an ellipse with the sun at
    one focus.

    Ellipses
    An ellipse is a shape that looks like a stretched circle. The amount that
    it is stretched we call eccentricity. The more eccentricity the ellipse
    has the more its stretched.

    Keplers second law


    A line joining a planet and the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal
    time intervals.

    Keplers third law


    The square of a planets sidereal period (P) around the sun is directly
    proportional to the cube of the length of its orbits semimajor axis (a).

    2
    P

    3
    a

    Astronomical units of distance


    In astronomy we often deal with distances that are very large, so its
    convenient to use large units.
    Astronomical unit (AU): 1 AU 1.5 x 108 km 9.3 x 107 mi
    The distance light travels in a year is a Light-year (ly): 1 ly 63,200 AU
    Parsec (pc): 1 pc 3.26 ly

    Newtons Laws
    Sir Isaac Newton made laws that deal with the motion of objects.

    Newtons first law


    Inertia is a measure of an objects resistance to change its motion. An
    object at rest will remain at rest and an object in with constant speed
    will remain at that speed unless acted on by an external net force.

    Newtons second law


    The acceleration of an object is proportional to the net force acting
    on it and inversely proportional to its mass.
    Force = mass x acceleration
    Acceleration is a change in speed. If an object has acceleration it
    means it is speeding up or slowing down.
    This law means if a force is applied to an object its speed will change.

    Mass and weight


    It is important to know the difference between mass and weight.
    Mass is the amount of matter an object contains. An objects mass is
    the same anywhere.
    Weight is a force acting on an objects mass due to gravity. An objects
    weight can change depending on its location. For example There is
    less gravity on the moon than on earth because the moon is less
    massive than the earth. Therefore an object would weigh less on the
    moon than on earth.

    Newtons third law


    Also known as the action-reaction law. Whenever an object exerts a
    force on a second object, that second object exerts a equal force on
    the first in the opposite direction.

    Newtons law of Universal Gravitation


    Two objects attract each other with a force that is proportional to the
    product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of
    the distance between them.

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