Hey guys! Welcome to my first article where we will be discussing Kepler's Three Laws of Planetary Motion. And if you didn't no, these laws were made by Johannes Kepler:

These laws accurately described how the planets moved in our Solar System for the first time and it was the basis for a lot of physics we know about planets. So let's get into the first law.





Kepler's 1st Law of Planetary Motion ("Law of Ellipses"):





This is by far the simplest of Kepler's laws... actually, for a lot of us, it seems like common sense! But at the time in 1609, this was actually pretty revolutionary stuff! All planets in our Solar System orbit the Sun in ellipses while rotating on their own axis. Meanwhile, the Sun rotates on its axis on a fixed point, the foci.





































































Kepler's 2nd Law of Planetary Motion ("The Law of Equal Areas"):





Okay, I'll admit, this is a bit more complicated (just as interesting though)! If a line is drawn from the center of the Sun, to the center of a planet, over a certain period, it creates an imaginary triangle! Interesting enough, if another triangle is created over the same period of time with the same period of time, it has to have the same area!

T = Time

A = Area





This law is again the basis for what a lot consider a common fact! The further the planet from its star, the faster it is! Pretty cool stuff (for 1609 anyway)!





Kepler's 3rd Law of Planetary Motion ("The Law of Harmonies"):





This law is a display of what I like to call "mathematical beauty"! Essentially, if you divide the orbital period of a planet (time it takes to go around the star once) squared by its average distance from the Sun squared, then you will get a number. There's something special number... if you calculate this for every other planet (in the same planet system), with the same units of measurements, you get the same number!!!





Planet Orbital Period (seconds) Average Distance (meters) T^2/P^2





Earth 3.156*10^7 1.4597*10^11 2.977*10^-19

Mars 5.93*10^7 2.278*10^11 2.975*10^-19





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