Orbital Mechanics
This text is meant to accompany class discussions. It is not everything there is to know about planetary motion. It is meant as a  prep for class. More detailed notes and examples are given in the class notes, presentations, and demonstrations (click here.)

Click here to view the reading questions for this topic.

Orbital Mechanics is an application of Kepler's 3 laws of planetary motion, Newton's law of universal gravoty, and uniform circular motion.

This more easily shown through 4 examples problems.

What is the pull of gravity on a person on the surface of the Earth if the person's mass is 55.5 kg?

This video is found on YouTube at https://youtu.be/e4u0X8uWdLM

What is the period of motion for Earth's moon? (Assume any orbiting object will always travel in a circle.)

Tihs video can be found on YouTube at https://youtu.be/gut9qMPXLvs

This video can be found on YouTube at https://youtu.be/Nep7qhF8T4Y

How high above the Earth's surface is a geosynchronous orbit? (A "geosynchronous orbit one where the satelite is far enough away from the body where the satelite orbits with the same period of motion as the body. This means the satelite is alway above teh same location on the planet. Most of our satelites are not geosynchronous.)

This video can also be found on YouTube at https://youtu.be/GuIjLW6bY0s