Physics Lesson 12/1
Presentation
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Physics
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10th - 12th Grade
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Easy
Standards-aligned
Bryan Hood
Used 5+ times
FREE Resource
14 Slides • 3 Questions
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Physics Lesson 12/1
Orbits of Planets and Satellites
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Newton and Cannonballs
Back to our opening question...
Newton used a drawing similar to the one on the right to illustrate a "thought experiment" on the motion of satellites.
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Newton and Cannonballs
Imagine a cannon perched high on a mountain, firing a cannonball horizontally with a given horizontal speed.
The cannonball is a projectile, and its motion has both vertical and horizontal components.
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Newton and Cannonballs
Like all projectiles on Earth, the cannonball would follow a parabolic projectile and fall to Earth. (Trajectory A)
But what if we increased the horizontal velocity of the cannonball?
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Newton and Cannonballs
Then we end up with something like Trajectory B. It still will fall to Earth, travelling in a parabolic Earth, yet it travels farther.
Now, what if we use an EXTREMELY powerful cannon, the cannonball could make it all the way around the Earth (Trajecxtory C)
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Newton and Cannonballs
It would fall toward Earth at the same rate that Earth's surface curves away.
In other words, the curvature of the projectile would curvature of the Earth
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Open Ended
Physics Lesson 12/1
Orbits of Planets and Satellites
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