Exam 3: Gravity and Orbitsa Celestial Ballet

The force of gravity between the Earth and the Sun is __________ the force of gravity between the Earth and the Moon.For reference,the average distance between the Earth and the Moon is 0.003 AU,the mass of the Moon is ,and the mass of the Sun is .

More massive objects fall faster in the Earth's gravitational field than less massive objects.

If a 100-kg astronaut pushes on a 5,000-kg satellite and the satellite experiences an acceleration of ,what is the acceleration experienced by the astronaut in the opposite direction?

__________ hypothesized that planetary motions could be explained by a force arising from the attraction between the mass of the planet and Sun that decreased with the square of the distance between them.

What do we customarily call the semimajor axis of a circle? What is the value of the eccentricity of a circle? What would the value of the eccentricity be for a comet on a very elliptical orbit around the Sun?

Is there a difference in your weight between when you are on top of a mountain at 1,000 m above sea level compared to when you are sitting in a classroom at 10 m above sea level?

Saturn has a semimajor axis of 9.6 AU.How long does it take Saturn to orbit once around the Sun?

Suppose an asteroid had an orbit with a semimajor axis of 4 AU.How long would it take for it to orbit once around the Sun?

Newton's first law states that objects in motion

When the Earth catches up to a slower moving outer planet and passes it in its orbit like a faster runner overtakes a slower runner in an outside lane,the planet

Astronauts orbiting Earth in the space shuttle feel weightless in space because

The escape velocity on the Moon is less than that on Earth.

In terms of frames of reference,explain why an object moving in a straight line at constant speed remains in motion.

If an object is moving in a circular orbit at a constant speed,which of the following is FALSE?

An unbound orbit results when a satellite has a velocity greater than the escape velocity.

Kepler's third law is a relationship between an orbiting object's

If you weighed 150 lbs on Earth,what would you weigh on Mars? For reference,Mars has a mass that is 0.1 times the Earth's mass and Mars has a radius that is 0.5 times the Earth's radius.

Planets with circular orbits travel at the same speed at all points in their orbits,whereas planets with elliptical orbits change their speeds at different points in their orbits.

Kepler's third law holds true mathematically only if the period is expressed in years and the semimajor axis is expressed in AU.

Suppose you are suddenly transported to a planet with 1/4 the radius of Earth but the same mass as the Earth.Your weight would __________ by a factor of __________.