Back to the lesson

Gravity and Planetary Systems flashcards

0/18

18 cards remaining

All 18 cards in this deckShow
What is meant by “Gravity” in this lesson?Gravity and Orbital Motion
Gravity is an attractive interaction associated with mass and described by suitable physical models.
What is meant by “Inertia” in this lesson?Gravity and Orbital Motion
Inertia is resistance to changing motion without a net force.
What is meant by “Orbit” in this lesson?Gravity and Orbital Motion
An orbit is motion governed by gravitational interaction around a body or shared center of mass.
What is meant by “Escape speed” in this lesson?Gravity and Orbital Motion
Escape speed is the minimum speed for an ideal unpowered escape from a stated position under model assumptions.
What is meant by “Mass versus weight” in this lesson?Gravity and Orbital Motion
Mass and gravitational force are different quantities.
What is meant by “Free fall” in this lesson?Gravity and Orbital Motion
Free fall is motion dominated by gravity rather than absence of gravity.
What is meant by “Ellipse” in this lesson?Kepler’s Laws
An ellipse is a closed curve with two foci used to describe ideal bound two-body orbits.
What is meant by “Kepler's first law” in this lesson?Kepler’s Laws
An ideal bound two-body orbit is an ellipse with the attracting body at a focus in the usual approximation.
What is meant by “Kepler's second law” in this lesson?Kepler’s Laws
Equal time intervals sweep equal areas in the ideal orbital description.
What is meant by “Kepler's third law” in this lesson?Kepler’s Laws
Period squared scales with semimajor axis cubed for systems with the same central-mass approximation.
What is meant by “Semimajor axis” in this lesson?Kepler’s Laws
The semimajor axis is half an ellipse's longest diameter.
What is meant by “Eccentricity” in this lesson?Kepler’s Laws
Eccentricity measures how an orbit departs from a circle.
What is meant by “Solar nebula” in this lesson?Planetary Formation
The solar nebula was the rotating gas-and-dust material from which the Solar System formed.
What is meant by “Accretion” in this lesson?Planetary Formation
Accretion builds larger bodies through accumulation of material.
What is meant by “Protoplanetary disk” in this lesson?Planetary Formation
A protoplanetary disk contains material around a young star that can form planets.
What is meant by “Condensation conditions” in this lesson?Planetary Formation
Temperature and pressure affect which materials form solids in a disk.
What is meant by “Planetary migration” in this lesson?Planetary Formation
Migration changes orbital locations through interactions with disks or other bodies.
What is meant by “Formation evidence” in this lesson?Planetary Formation
Evidence combines composition, orbital patterns, dating, and observations of young systems.