why planets revolve around the sun in an elliptical path?

Question

1. why planets revolve around the sun in an ellptical path.
2. what is the relation in the average distances between the planets.

i considered the average distances between earth and mercuryi made few constructions and got a quadilateral between 3 points on the orbit of mercury, and 1point on sun I extended the opposite sides until they joined the distance between this point and the sun i.e. the center was approximately equal to the average distance of mars from the sun. how can i explain this.

Answer 1

There are a few common ways of understanding orbits.

As the object moves sideways, it falls toward the orbited object. However it moves so quickly that the curvature of the orbited object will fall away beneath it.
A force, such as gravity, pulls the object into a curved path as it attempts to fly off in a straight line.
As the object falls, it moves sideways fast enough (has enough tangential velocity) to miss the orbited object. This understanding is particularly useful for mathematical analysis, because the object's motion can be described as the sum of the three one-dimensional coordinates oscillating around a gravitational center.

Answer 2

The word "helios" in Greek means "sun." Heliocentric means that the sun is at the center. A heliocentric system is one in which the planets revolve around a fixed sun. Thus Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn all revolve around the sun. The moon is the only celestial sphere in this system which revolves around the earth, and, together with it, around the sun.
This theory was first proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus. Copernicus was a Polish astronomer. He first published the heliocentric system in his book: De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, "On the revolutions of the heavenly bodies," which appeared in 1543. Copernicus died the same year his book was published. After 1,400 years, Copernicus was the first to propose a theory which differed from Ptolemy's geocentric system, according to which the earth is at rest in the center with the rest of the planets revolving around it. The claim that all planets revolve around the sun had been raised in ancient times, but Copernicus was the first to succeed in describing the movements of the planets using an astronomical theory which placed the sun at the center.




Copernicus conducted his studies over many years and was well acquainted with the Ptolemaic theory. In order to explain the exact movements of the planets, it was necessary to add more and more spheres along which the planets move. Copernicus noticed that all of the planets, apart from the sun, have the same annual movement, and he thought that this movement might be explained by the annual movement of the earth around the sun. His hypothesis that all the planets revolve around the sun was reinforced by the unique characteristics of the sun, which gives light and heat to all the other planets. Hence, it was plausible that the sun served as the center of the planetary system.
The daily movement of all the stars around the earth, claimed Copernicus, could be explained by the rotation of the earth on its axis within a 24-hour period. The view experienced from an object revolving around itself is identical to the view experienced when all the other objects revolve around it.

In his book, Copernicus explained the movement of the planets and the stars in a simpler way than the Ptolemaic theory did. However, one cannot point out any observational difference between the two theories. Both of them predict identical planetary movements.




How does one determine what is revolving and what is being revolved around? Does the earth revolve about the sun or does the sun revolve about the earth?
The way to prove this is by means of physical experiments and arguments rather than observation proofs. Galileo contributed a great deal to such arguments in refutation of the Ptolemaic theory, but it was Newton who first produced convincing proof supporting the geocentric theory.

Copernicus remained loyal to the Ptolemaic tools and used the spheres in order to explain the movements of the stars. He too thought that the movements of the planets are composed of a number of uniform circular movements, which eventually create a non-circular path. Copernicus was obliged to abandon the idea that the planets are made of a special material, ether, because for him the earth itself is a planet and is obviously not made of ether. He claimed that the movements of the planets are uniform and circular because of their spherical shape. By adhering to this notion of circular movement, Copernicus continued an astronomical tradition of two thousand years which dated back to ancient Greece, and continued through the Arab astronomy of the Middle Ages and right up to the Christian astronomy. Galileo too upheld this tradition by maintaining the claim that circular movement was the characteristic movement of the celestial bodies. Johannes Kepler was the first to discover that the planets move in an elliptical orbit around the sun.

In 1539, the Protestant leader Martin Luther denounced the new theory. The Catholic Church disregarded Copernicus' book until 1616, when it was included in the "Index": A list of prohibited books. The Catholic church even used Copernicus' book to correct the calendar (which we still use today). The Church did not object to the theory so long as the book was treated as no more than a mathematical explanation,(about which he had heard considerable rumors). Which does not really claim that the earth rotates around the sun. This explanation also allowed Protestant astronomers to use the theory.

Answer 3

According to Kepler"s laws ,
1. Every planet revolves around the Sun in an elliptical orbit with sun is one of its foci.
2. The path followed by the planet sweeps equal areas in equal intervals of time.
3. The square of the timeperiod of the planet around the sun is directly proportional to the cube of the area of the orbit.

Answer 4

None are perfectly elliptical. They are eccentric erratic in nature following approximately, but not exactly the same orbits. Earth is probably the most near perfect otherwise we would go too far from or come too close to the sun for existence to be possible.

Answer 5

Sun and planets have gravitational force. They are like magnets. so planets revolve round the sun but in elliptical orbits because in magnets the attractive property is more concentrated at the ends. so planets come near the sun at the ends and goes far at the middle.

Answer 6

1. They don't have any choice, it is a consequence of the radius squared rule of gravitational attraction.
2. There is no formula to the relation, they are what they are (unlike the ancients who looking for musical or mathematical ratios.)

Answer 7

vit is a scientific fact.but do you know saturn has left its path and coming to the earth just like venus once came it is moving after ever 41 days

Answer 8

using newtons law of gravitation and mathematics it can be proven that there orbits are conics(mostly ellipse)

Answer 9

They are designed to go that way.

Answer 10

i dunno