Modelling the Solar System. In this lab we are going to investigate data concerning orbital motion around Saturn. We will work out the centripetal acceleration and the inverse squared of radius.
Maria Cardoso-BotelhoIB PhysicsSt. Dominic’s International Schol
Modelling the solar system
Newton’s Law of Gravitation states that the force of attraction between two bodies is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the distance between their centres of masses squared.
Aim
In this lab we are going to investigate data concerning orbital motion around Saturn. We will work out the centripetal acceleration and the inverse squared of radius.
Data table and processing
First, we will have to convert our units to SI units.
Distance is the average radius from Saturn to the satellite because the orbit is an ellipse, according to Kepler’s first law. If distance is in thousands of kilometres, then we will have to multiply the values times 106 to get distance in metres.