KEPLER ACTIVITY

Source:
http://home.lcusd.net/lchs/ttraeger/1011pdf
files/keplers_laws_es.pdf Purpose
The purpose of this activity is to become more familiar with Kepler’s
Laws of Planetary Motion. This activity has been modified from the Genesis Mission Search for Origins Education Series.
http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov/educate/scimodule/Destination_L1.html

Materials
• Cardboard • 2 Push Pins • Cotton Twine
• Pencil • Calculator • Phet My Solar System
Animation (You can
download and run the JAVA
version OR run directly with
FLASH)
• Computer with Internet • White 8.5” X 11” Paper • Ruler

NOTE FOR SUBMISSION – ENTER YOUR ANSWERS IN THIS SHEET AND SUBMIT WITH A NEW NAME – SUCH AS
ME_KEPLER WORK

Part 1: Drawing an Ellipse and Calculating Eccentricity: Kepler’s First Law of Planetary Motion
1. Obtain a piece of cardboard, two push pins, and a piece of string about 25 centimeters long.
2. Tie your piece of string in a loop.
3. Place your paper on the cardboard and put your push pins in the middle of the page length wise. The push pins
should be about 10 centimeters apart. Changing this distance will change the shape of your ellipse.
4. Put your loop of string over the ends of the push pins. Draw the loop tight with the tip of your pencil and form a
triangle with your string. Keep the loop tight and draw an ellipse.
5. Remove the string and push pins from your paper.
6. Label each hole made by the push pins “focus 1” and “focus 2.”
7. Choose one of these foci and label it “Sun.”
8. Choose a place on the outline of your ellipse and place a dot there. Label the dot with a planet name of your
choosing. Ex.) Planet Star Lord.
9. Find the point on the outline of the ellipse that is closest to the dot that you made the Sun. Label this point
“Perihelion.”
10. Find the point on the outline of the ellipse that is farthest from the dot that you made the Sun. Label this point
“Aphelion.”
11. Put an “X” directly in the center of your ellipse exactly half way between the two foci.
12. Draw a line from the “X” to the dot that you denoted as the Sun. Label this line as “c.”
13. Draw another line from the “X” through the focus that does not denote the Sun and all the way to the point that
you denoted “Aphelion.” Label this line as “a.” In math, we call this line the “semi-major axis.” It is similar to the
radius of a circle.
14. Eccentricity is the measurement of how stretched out an ellipse is. It ranges from zero to one. Zero is the
eccentricity of a circle and one is the eccentricity of a straight line. Calculate the value of the eccentricity for the
ellipse you drew by measuring the length of line “c” and measuring the length of line “a.” Calculate the eccentricity
of the ellipse by taking “c” and dividing it by “a.” Put your data below.
Length of line “c” in centimeters Length of line “a” in centimeters Eccentricity of the ellipse you drew
(c/a)

5cm 10cm 0.5cm

15. After doing this activity, what does Kepler’s First Law of Planetary Motion say?

Each planet moves around the Sun in an orbit that is an ellipse, with the Sun at one focus of the ellipse.

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KEPLER ACTIVITY
Source:
http://home.lcusd.net/lchs/ttraeger/1011pdf 16. TAKE A PICTURE OF YOUR GRAPH AND INSERT IT INTO
THIS DOCUMENT HERE when you turn it in. Failure to do
files/keplers_laws_es.pdf so will result in a lot of lost points!

Part 2: Calculating the Eccentricity of Planet Orbits

1. Calculate the eccentricity of each planet by using the formula e = c/a. Fill in your data in the chart below. State
your answer in the proper number of significant figures.
Planet Distance from center of Semi-Major Axis in Eccentricity (e)
ellipse to focus in Astronomical Units (a)
Astronomical Units (c)
Mercury 0.080 0.387 0.207

Venus 0.005 0.723 0.007

Earth 0.017 1.000 0.017

Mars 0.142 1.524 0.216

Jupiter 0.250 5.203 0.048

Saturn 0.534 9.540 0.056

Uranus 0.901 19.180 0.047

Neptune 0.271 30.060 0.009

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KEPLER ACTIVITY
Source:
http://home.lcusd.net/lchs/ttraeger/1011pdf
files/keplers_laws_es.pdf

Pluto (Dwarf Planet) 9.821 39.440 0.249

2. Which of the planet’s orbits is the most eccentric? Assume that Pluto is still a planet for this question.

Pluto

3. Which of the planet’s orbits is the least eccentric (closest to a circle’s eccentricity of zero)? Assume that Pluto is
still a planet for this question.

Venus

4. Which two planets have the most similar eccentricity?

Jupiter and Uanus, Neptune

and Venus

5. Which planet has an eccentricity most similar to Earth’s eccentricity?

Neptune and Venus

6. The average eccentricity of the Moon’s orbit around the Earth is 0.054900489. Would you say the eccentricity of
the Moon’s orbit is low, medium, or high with respect to most of the planets’ orbits around the Sun?

Medium

7. How could the eccentricity of a planet’s orbit affect the amount of solar radiation it receives from the Sun?

When Earth's orbit is more elliptical the planet receives a lot more solar radiation when it is nearest to the sun
than it does when it is farthest from the sun, when the orbit is more circular, the amount of solar radiation varies
less throughout the year. These differences affect the length and intensity of the seasons.

Part 3: Kepler’s Second Law of Planetary Motion

1. Go to the My Solar System Animation link (My Solar System http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/my-solar-
system - If you have FLASH click the stylized F to start the simulation) Set up an orbit of a planet around the Sun
that is fairly elliptical by adjusting the velocity vector of the orbit. Run the animation.

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KEPLER ACTIVITY
Source:
http://home.lcusd.net/lchs/ttraeger/1011pdf 2. How does the speed of a planet’s orbit at perihelion compare
to the speed of a planet’s orbit at aphelion? Why is there a
files/keplers_laws_es.pdf
difference in speed?

It is faster at perihelion do to the gravitational pull of the sun.

3. Look at the diagram below.

Count the number of squares in D
sector 1 and in sector 2.

Squares in Sector 1: _____75________

Sector 2
Squares in Sector 2: _____72________

A C
Sector 1

4. What can you say about the number of squares in Sector 1 compared to the number of squares in Sector 2?
What does the number of squares imply about each sector’s area?

Vary similarly amount of square indicates a vary similarly area in the 10 months.

5. If it takes the same amount of time for a planet to move from point A to point B as it does for a planet to move
from point C to point D, then what must a planet do in terms of its speed in each sector? Speed equals distance
over time. Note that the distance between A and B is shorter than the distance between C and D.

Speed from A to B (Faster or Slower?) Speed from C to D (Faster or Slower?)

Faster

Slower

6. Based on what you have seen here, Kepler’s Second Law says that planets sweep out equal

area in equal space. To do this, planets ___________speed up______ ____ when closer to
the Sun and they ______slow down_when farther from the Sun.

7. Earth’s perihelion is in January and its aphelion is in July? Why is this not the reason for the seasons on Earth? If
it was, the Northern Hemisphere on Earth would be hotter in January and colder in July. Think about it.

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KEPLER ACTIVITY
Source:
http://home.lcusd.net/lchs/ttraeger/1011pdf Earth orbit is very close to being a circle.
files/keplers_laws_es.pdf
Part 4: Kepler’s Third Law of Planetary Motion
Use the following chart to answer the questions that follow.

Planet Mean Orbital Velocity and Mean Distance to the Sun

Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto

Mean Orbit 47.87 35.02 29.79 24.13 13.07 9.67 6.84 5.48 4.75
Velocity in
km/s
Mean 0.39 0.72 1.00 1.52 5.20 9.54 19.19 30.07 39.48
Distance to
the Sun (a) in
Astronomical
Units (AU)

1. How does the distance from the Sun of a planet affect the planet’s orbital velocity? In other words, do planets that
are farther from the Sun travel faster or do they travel slower?

Slower

2. Based on your response to number 1, what does Kepler’s Third Law of Planetary Motion say?

The square of a planet’s orbital period is directly proportional to the cube of the semimajor axis of its orbit.

Conclusion
All of this work means nothing if you don’t use it. How might Kepler’s Laws be used by JPL to plan missions to other
planets in terms of timing the mission launches? If you have time, go back to the My Solar System computer simulator
and play with it to see how crazy planetary orbits can get!