Energy and the Elliptical Orbit

摘要

In the January 2007 issue of The Physics Teacher,Prentis, Fulton, Hesse, and Mazzino 1 describe a laboratory exercise in which students use a geo-metrical analysis inspired by Newton to show that an elliptical orbit and an inverse-square law force go handin hand. The historical, geometrical, and teamwork as-pects of the exercise are useful and important. This pa-per presents an exercise which uses an energy/angularmomentum conservation model for elliptical orbits.This exercise can be done easily by an individual stu-dent and on regular notebook-sized paper.