{"id":14003,"date":"2022-03-20T08:42:43","date_gmt":"2022-03-20T12:42:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/?page_id=14003"},"modified":"2025-03-13T18:13:41","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T22:13:41","slug":"orbital-motion","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/course-material\/animations\/orbital-motion\/","title":{"rendered":"Orbital motion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A satellite P is in orbit around the Earth. A gravitational attraction force <em>F<sub>gr<\/sub><\/em> from the Earth acts on the satellite, where:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-14014 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2022\/03\/Screen-Shot-2022-03-20-at-8.57.14-AM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"82\" height=\"43\" \/>with<em> G<\/em> being the universal gravitational constant. For the instant shown, the velocity <em><strong>v<\/strong><sub>P<\/sub><\/em> of the satellite makes an angle of\u00a0<em>\u03b8\u00a0<\/em>with respect to the position vector <em><strong>r<\/strong><sub>P\/O<\/sub><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-7787 aligncenter\" style=\"border: 1px solid #000000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2022\/03\/Screen-Shot-2022-03-20-at-8.39.11-AM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"277\" height=\"215\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Observations and discussion<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Since energy is conserved (the gravitational force is conservative), we can use the work\/energy equation to determine the speed of the satellite as a function of the distance R from O to P.<\/li>\n<li>Since the gravitational force Fgr is always acts along line OP, this force does NOT create a moment about point O. As a result, the angular momentum of the satellite about the center of the Earth is conserved (constant).<\/li>\n<li>What is the implication of conservation of angular momentum have on the observed motion of P? To see this, recall the definition of angular momentum:<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-14015 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2022\/03\/Screen-Shot-2022-03-20-at-9.11.45-AM-300x60.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"90\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2022\/03\/Screen-Shot-2022-03-20-at-9.11.45-AM-300x60.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2022\/03\/Screen-Shot-2022-03-20-at-9.11.45-AM.jpg 769w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: circle\">\n<li>From this relation and the animation below, we see that when the satellite is at its closest position to the Earth (the position of minimum <em>R<\/em> is known as the &#8220;perigee&#8221; of the orbit), the velocity vector <em><strong>v<\/strong><sub>P<\/sub> <\/em>is perpendicular to <em><strong>r<\/strong><sub>P\/O<\/sub><\/em> (that is, sin<em>\u03b8<\/em> = 1). From above, this says that the speed of P is a <em>maximum<\/em> at the perigee.<\/li>\n<li>Also, from this relation and the animation below, we see that when the satellite is at its furthest position to the Earth (the position of maximum <em>R<\/em> is known as the &#8220;apogee&#8221; of the orbit), the velocity vector <em><strong>v<\/strong><sub>P<\/sub> <\/em>is again perpendicular to <em><strong>r<\/strong><sub>P\/O<\/sub><\/em> (that is, sin<em>\u03b8<\/em> = 1). From above, this says that the speed of P is a <em>minimum<\/em> at the apogee.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>For all other positions of P, there is a more complicated relationship between R and the speed of P. We need to look at both the conservation of energy and conservation of angular momentum in order to understand the satellite&#8217;s motion. However, the motion of the satellite is completely described by those two equations. As you watch the motion of P below and the freeze frame of the motion for three positions, look closely at the relationship among <em>R<\/em>, <em>v<sub>P<\/sub><\/em> and sin<em>\u03b8 <\/em>\u00a0&#8211; the product of these three terms is CONSTANT for all motion. Can you see this ?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 1px solid #000000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2022\/03\/example03.gif\" width=\"535\" height=\"433\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wpa-warning wpa-image-missing-alt wp-image-22492\" src=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/03\/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-6.08.25\u202fPM-300x289.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"801\" height=\"772\" data-warning=\"Missing alt text\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/03\/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-6.08.25\u202fPM-300x289.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/03\/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-6.08.25\u202fPM-768x741.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/03\/Screenshot-2025-03-13-at-6.08.25\u202fPM.jpg 851w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 801px) 100vw, 801px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Kepler&#8217;s 2nd Law<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/em>Kepler&#8217;s second law states that the area swept out by the line connecting the satellite to the Earth&#8217;s center over a given time\u00a0\u0394t is a <em>constant<\/em> throughout the entire orbit of the satellite. See the animation below showing this swept area in blue (from <em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kepler%27s_laws_of_planetary_motion\">Wikipedia<\/a><\/em>).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 1px solid #000000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2022\/07\/kepler_2nd_law.gif\" width=\"309\" height=\"210\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In addition to the blue swept areas, the green velocity vector is shown along with the acceleration in terms of its tangential and normal components (rate of change of speed and centripetal components) being shown in purple.<\/p>\n<p>Freeze-frames of the above animation at two instants in time are shown below.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 1px solid #000000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2022\/07\/Screen-Shot-2022-07-14-at-7.46.20-AM.jpg\" width=\"412\" height=\"289\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The consistency of Kepler&#8217;s 2nd law with conservation of angular momentum is impressive considering that Kepler did this work in the early 1600&#8217;s. This is compared with the time frame of Newton&#8217;s work on his second law, the law of gravitational attraction and calculus from the late 1600&#8217;s. Kepler was able to arrive at this second law without the benefit of Newtonian mechanics and differential calculus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A satellite P is in orbit around the Earth. A gravitational attraction force Fgr from the Earth acts on the satellite, where: with G being the universal gravitational constant. For the instant shown, the velocity vP of the satellite makes an angle of\u00a0\u03b8\u00a0with respect to the position vector rP\/O. &nbsp; Observations and discussion Since energy &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/course-material\/animations\/orbital-motion\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Orbital motion<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"parent":14,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14003","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14003"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22493,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14003\/revisions\/22493"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/freeform\/me274\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}