Transcript jun16

Gravity
Review Question
What are Kepler’s laws of planetary motion?
Kepler’s Laws
Planets orbit Sun in elliptical orbits
Line drawn from planet to Sun sweeps out
equal areas in equal times
The cube of the semimajor axis is equal to
the square of the sidereal period
Review Question
What time of year does the Earth move the
fastest in its orbit around the Sun?
Review Question
Although the Moon is in synchronous
rotation, we can actually see 59% of its
surface from the Earth. Explain why this is
the case using Kepler’s laws.
Kepler’s Laws can correctly predict
the future positions of the planets
Everyone used Kepler’s laws to predict the
positions of the planets, even those that
continued to believe the Sun orbited the
Earth.
Kepler offered no explanation as to why the
planets followed these laws.
Newton
Speed
distance traveled
Speed 
time
Example: a car moving at 60 miles/hour
Velocity
Velocity is speed and direction
Example: a car moving 60 miles/hour due west.
Speed vs. Velocity
A race car may move at a constant speed
around a race track but its velocity is
changing because the direction of motion is
changing.
Newton’s first law of motion
The Law of inertia
An object at rest or in motion will stay at rest
or in motion with a constant velocity unless
acted on by an outside force.
Discussion
Using Newton’s first law of motion why is
it a good idea to be wearing a seatbelt in
case of a car accident?
Acceleration
Acceleration is the rate of change in the
velocity of an object.
An acceleration can mean a speeding up, a
slowing down, or simply a change in the
direction of motion with no change in
speed.
Units of acceleration
velocity distance
Accelerati on 

2
time
time
Example
A car accelerates from a stop light at 10 m/sec2
following a straight path. So, at time t = 0 the
car’s speed is 0 m/sec.
After one second of acceleration, the car’s
speed is 10 m/sec (velocity 10 m/sec south).
After two seconds, the car’s speed is 20 m/sec.
Discussion
After one minute of accelerating at 10 m/sec2
at what speed is the car moving?
Newton’s second law of motion
Force = mass  acceleration
If the same force is applied to an object with
half the mass, the acceleration of that object
will be twice as much.
Discussion
Using Newton’s 2nd law of motion, explain why
you can throw a baseball farther than a shotput.
Discussion
If I pull on either side of the a pen as hard as I
can, what is the net force I exert on the pen?
Discussion
Which will do more damage to your car.
Hitting a brick wall at 60 miles per hour which
does little damage to the brick wall.
A head on collision with another car traveling at
60 miles per hour in the opposite direction with
the same mass such that both cars immediately
come to rest.
Newton’s third law of motion
For any force there is always an equal and
opposite reaction force
Example: Walking
In order to walk, you have to push, with your
foot, back on the ground. The ground pushes
back on your foot with an equal and opposite
force.
Discussion
If I put my car in neutral and try to push it
with a force F, according to Newton’s third law
my car pushes back with the same force.
Therefore, the car should never move. Is
Newton wrong? Why or why not?
Discussion
You’re an astronaut working on the Hubble
Space Telescope (HST) with a number of
tools. You lose your grip and start floating
away from the space shuttle. How do you
get back to safety?
Rocket Power
A rocket engine works by accelerating rocket
fuel out the back of the rocket. A force is
required to accelerate the exhaust, which
applies an equal force in the opposite direction
on the rocket.
Discussion
Consider an object in uniform circular motion.
That is, an object traveling in a circle with a
constant speed. Is there a force acting on this
object? Why or why not?
Discussion
Consider an object in uniform circular motion:
that is, an object traveling in a circle with a
constant speed.
How is the velocity of the object changing and
how must the force on the object be directed to
change its velocity in this way?
Discussion
Is there a force acting on the Moon? How can
you tell?
The Moon is falling
The nearly circular orbit of the Moon is
constantly accelerating toward the Earth.
The Moon is constantly falling toward the
Earth.
What was Newton thinking?
Consider tossing a baseball. It travels a
certain distance before it hits the ground.
Now image throwing it as hard as you
can. It travels further before it hits the
ground.
Now imagine throwing it even harder.
Discussion
If I swing a ball in a circle over my head
with a short string and a long string with
the same speed, which ball has the greater
force acting on it? Explain why.
Force on the planets depends on
distance
The higher the speed an object moves in a
circle the greater acceleration and the force
needed to hold it in that circle.
The force on the planets closest to the Sun
has to be greater than that on the planets
further away.
Newton’s Universal Law of
Gravity
• Every mass attracts every other mass
through a force called gravity
• The force is directly proportional to the
product of their masses
• The force is inversely proportional to the
square of the distance between them
M 1M 2
F G
2
d
Discussion
Consider the gravitational force between two
objects with mass M1 and M2 separated by a
distance d. How would the gravitational force
change if the distance between them increases
to 3  d. How will it change in the distance in
decreased to 0.1  d?
Why the square of the distance?
An inverse square central force law is required to
get orbits that are conic sections, i.e. orbits that
are elliptical.
Why is the force of gravity
proportional to the mass?
All objects, regardless of their mass, fall with
the same acceleration. Because F = ma,
F
a
m
To keep the acceleration
constant, the force must vary
proportional to the mass.
Discussion
Newton’s third law tells us that the force of
the Sun on the Earth is the same as the force
of the Earth on the Sun. Why then does the
Earth orbit the Sun instead of the other way
around?
Gravitational forces between
spherical masses
d
The distance to use is the distance between the
two spheres centers.
Discussion
Suppose a new planet is discovered out in
the Kuiper belt. This planet has twice the
mass of the Earth but is also twice the
radius. Is the surface gravity of this new
planet greater than, less than or the same as
the surface gravity of the Earth?
Discussion
You dig a very deep mine shaft. As you get
closer to the center of the Earth, does your
weight increase or decrease? Why?
(Hint: consider what the force of gravity will be
at the very center of the Earth.)
Escape Velocity
If an object is thrown up with a high
enough velocity it will leave Earth forever.
For Earth this velocity is about 11 km/sec.
Discussion
If the Earth were the same mass but
twice the radius, would the escape velocity
be greater or less than 11 km/sec? Why?
The escape velocity from the Moon is less
than that from the Earth because of the
Moon's
a) lower density.
b) smaller mass.
c) smaller radius.
d) distance from the Earth.
Newton’s law of gravity
explained the ocean tides
Because the force of gravity falls off rapidly with
distance, the pull of the Moon and Sun are
stronger on the side of Earth that is closer to, or
faces, the Moon or Sun.
And it is weakest furthest from the Moon or
Sun.
Spring Tides and Neap Tides
The Sun also contributes to the Earth’s tides.
When the Sun and Moon line up to produce
higher tides, this is called spring tides.
Neap tides occur when the Moon and Sun
Partially cancel each other.
What phases of the Moon do spring and
neap tides occur?
Note: Tidal forces
Tidal forces are not a new kind of force that
stretches and squeezes things.
Are the name given to the difference in
accelerations across an finite sized object
due to differences in distance from a
gravitating source
Discussion
Due to tidal friction, what happens to the
rotation rate of the Earth over time?
The Earth-Moon system
The Moon exerts a force on the tidal
bulges on Earth, trying to twist the tidal
bugles back to face the Moon. This torque
slows the rotation of the Earth.
Conservation of angular
momentum
Any object that is spinning or orbiting has
angular momentum which is equal to the
mass × velocity × radius.
In the absence of an external torque, or
twisting force, the angular momentum
will remain constant.
Discussion
If angular momentum is conserved and I
decrease the radius what happens?
Discussion
The Moon is slowing the Earth’s rotation
and the Earth is losing angular momentum.
Where does that angular momentum go?
Orbit of the Moon
Due to conservation of angular momentum, the
slowing of Earth’s rotation requires the Moon to
move faster in its orbit. Because the force of
Earth’s gravity does not change, this means the
Moon is getting farther away, by about 2 inches
per year.
Discussion
What do you think will be the ultimate fate
of the Earth Moon system?
Fate of the Earth Moon System
Over billions of years the length of the month
and the length of the day will be the same,
about 47 days. The Moon will stationary in the
sky and will be too small for total solar eclipses.
Discussion
Will the Moon still have phases?
Discussion
What would happen to the Moon if its
orbital period was less than the Earth’s day?