As a planet draws away from the sun in its orbit, the force between the sun and the planet (remains the same / increases / decreases) and the planet's speed (increases / decreases / remains the same).
As a planet draws away from the sun in its orbit, the force between the sun and the planet decreases and the planet's speed decreases. This is due to the inverse square law of gravitation, which states that the force between two objects is proportional to the inverse square of the distance between them. As the planet moves farther away from the sun, the distance between them increases, resulting in a decrease in the force of gravity. According to Kepler's second law of planetary motion, as the planet moves farther from the sun, its orbital velocity decreases, leading to a decrease in speed.
As a planet draws away from the sun in its orbit, the force between the sun and the planet decreases. According to Newton's law of universal gravitation, the force between two objects is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers. Therefore, as the distance between the planet and the sun increases, the force of gravity between them decreases.
On the other hand, the planet's speed decreases as it moves away from the sun in its orbit. This is due to the conservation of angular momentum. As the distance between the planet and the sun increases, the planet's orbital radius increases, and thus its velocity decreases to maintain a constant angular momentum.
As a planet draws away from the sun in its orbit, the force between the sun and the planet decreases and the planet's speed decreases.
To understand why this happens, we need to look at two key principles: the law of universal gravitation and the conservation of angular momentum.
1. Law of Universal Gravitation:
The force between two objects, such as the sun and a planet, is directly proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. So, as the distance between the sun and the planet increases, the force of gravity between them decreases. This means that the gravitational attraction that keeps the planet in its orbit weakens as the planet moves farther away.
2. Conservation of Angular Momentum:
Angular momentum is a property of a rotating object, such as a planet orbiting the sun. According to the conservation of angular momentum, when an object's distance from the axis of rotation (in this case, the sun) increases, its rotational speed decreases to maintain the same angular momentum.
Applying these principles to our question, as the planet moves away from the sun, the gravitational force between them becomes weaker. Consequently, the planet's orbital speed decreases to maintain its angular momentum, which is the product of its mass, velocity, and distance from the sun.
To summarize, as a planet moves away from the sun in its orbit, the force between the sun and the planet decreases, resulting in a decrease in the planet's speed.