Kepler's Law and the Inverse Square Law (UMAP)

A unit that involves Kepler's Law and the Inverse Square Law. With completion of this module students will be able to: 1) handle motion problems in polar coordinates, especially those concerning gravitational interaction; 2) state the relationships between Kepler's Laws and the Inverse Square Law; and 3) discuss the history and thought going into scientific development of an idea and the interaction between experiment and theory, at least in the context of planetary motion.

Table of Contents:

1. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM

2. STATEMENT OF THE LAWS

3. HISTORY OF THE PROBLEM

4. MOTIONS DESCRIBED IN POLAR COORDINATES

5. DEDUCTION OF THE INVERSE SQUARE LAW FROM KEPLER'S LAWS

6. KEPLER'S LAWS AS CONSEQUENCES OF NEWTON'S LAWS

7. COMMENTS

8. FURTHER EXERCISES

9. HINTS TO THE SOLUTIONS OF THE EXERCISES

10. MODEL EXAM

APPENDICES

DETAILED SOLUTIONS TO EXERCISES

ANSWERS TO MODEL EXAM