preview

Nt1310 Unit 9 Lab Report

Decent Essays

Go to http://phet.colorado.edu/simulations/sims.php?sim=My_Solar_System and click on Run Now.

1. Move the slider all the way to accurate, click on the tape measure and the grid.
2. Click the radio button for 4 objects and run the simulation until the purple planet (body 2) has made one complete orbit (one year).
3. After the first orbit (year), turn off the traces (show traces box) and watch another orbit (year) of the purple planet (body 2).
Question One:
Is blue moon (body 3) circling the yellow sun (body 1) or the purple planet (body 2)? Explain your answer.
Using the trojan asteroids setting it looks like all 3 bodys are orbiting the yellow sun
4. Increase the mass of the sun (body 1) to 400 and allow the simulation to run …show more content…

Why?
When the mass of the sun is 1000 and the planet is 10. Because the mass of the sun is 10x larger than the planet.
Question Five:
What makes the length of the year increase and decrease? Why?
The closer to the sun a planet is the shorter the year and the farther away it is the longer the year.
Question Six:
A planet in a circular orbit would always be the same distance from the sun. What do you notice about orbits with the shortest years? Why? Shorter year = closer to the sun. The closer it is to the sun the more of a pull the gravity has on it which causes it to orbit quicker.
8. Choose the ellipses preset from the pull-down menu.
9.You may move the slider bar about 2/3 of the way towards fast for this simulation.
10. Run the simulation until the green planet (body 4) returns to its starting point (one planetary year)
Planet Time of One Orbit (planetary year) Closest Distance to Sun (perihelion) Farthest Distance to Sun (aphelion)
Purple Planet (body 2) 2.2s 54 84
Blue Planet (body 3) 7.6s 54 250
Green Planet (body 4) 14.7s 54 419

11. Change the y velocity of the blue planet (body 3) to 90 and the green planet (body 4) to 70.
12. Run the simulation again until the green

Get Access