Physics 110: Assignment 4

Due Wednesday, September 25.

  1. Describe how a planet moves in the sky over the course of one sidereal day. How does this differ from how a star moves in the sky?

  2. Asteroid X (which is fictitious) orbits the Sun in a highly elliptical orbit whose major axis is the same length as the diameter of the Earth's orbit. How long does it take asteroid X to complete one orbit of the Sun?

  3. Make a sketch showing the Sun, the Earth's orbit, and the orbit of asteroid X. Where along its orbit, if anywhere, does asteroid X move faster than the Earth?

Published by NDSU Department of Physics
Douglas A. Kurtze
E-mail: kurtze@plains.nodak.edu
Phone: (701) 231-7048
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