Download Kepler`s Laws of Planetary Motion Quiz Answer Key

Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion Quiz Answer Key
1. In your own words, describe Kepler’s First Law of Planetary Motion.
2. In your own words, describe Kepler’s Second Law of Planetary Motion.
3. In your own words, describe Kepler’s Third Law of Planetary Motion.
4. What can be determined regarding the ratio between the period and the average
distance of a planet from the sun, using Kepler’s Third Law?
5. According to http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/, the
average distance from Saturn to the Sun is 1.427 x 109 km, and it takes 29.456 Earth years
to orbit the Sun. What is the ratio between the square of Saturn’s period and the cube of
its mean radius?
6. According to http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/, the
average distance from Mercury to the Sun is 5.79 x 107 km, and it takes .24 Earth years to
orbit the Sun. What is the ratio between the square of Mercury’s period and the cube of its
mean radius?
7. Based on your calculations in Q’s 5 and 6, do Saturn and Mercury appear to follow
Kepler’s Third Law? If not, why might that be?
8. The mean distance from Earth to the Sun is 1.496 x 108 km, and its period is 1 year. Use
Kepler’s laws to calculate the orbital period of Uranus, if its mean distance from the Sun is
4.4971 x 109 km.
9. Using the ratio of squared time to cubed radius that you calculated for Earth in Question
#8, calculate the average radius of Jupiter’s orbit, given Jupiter’s period of 11.862 Earth
years.
10. Distances within the Solar System are often measured in Astronomical Units (AU). 1
AU is the average distance from the Sun to Earth. Use your prior calculations to determine
the average radius of Jupiter’s orbit, in AU.
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