But that's too fast!

A new planet has just entered the solar system with volume one-third and average density half that of the sun. If the distance between the planet and the sun is 90 km 90 \text{ km} , then find the total time taken by the planet to revolve around the center of mass of the planet-sun system. Submit your answer in milliseconds.

Details and Assumptions:

  • Take the value of G G (universal gravitational constant) as 6.67 × 10 11 6.67 \times {10}^{-11} SI units.
  • Take the mass of the sun as 2 × 10 30 kg 2 \times {10}^{30}\text{ kg} .
  • Neglect the gravitational forces acting on the planet-sun system due to the other planets in the solar system.
  • Assume the planet to revolve in a circular path around the sun.


The answer is 13.59852.

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1 solution

Ashish Menon
Dec 24, 2016

Let m 1 m_1 and m 2 m_2 be the masses of the sun and planet respectively.

First lets find out the center of mass of the planet-sun system which is at a distance of say r 1 r_1 from the sun and r 2 r_2 from the planet. The position of the center of mass would be m 2 ( r 1 + r 2 ) ( m 1 + m 2 ) \dfrac{m_2\left(r_1 + r_2\right)}{\left(m_1 + m_2\right)} .

Let the centripetal force on sun be F C 1 F_{C_1} and on planet be F C 2 F_{C_2} about the center of mass. Let F G F_G be the gravitational force between them.

Now F C 1 = F G = F C 2 F_{C_1} = F_G = F_{C_2} .
So, m 1 r 1 ω 2 = m 2 r 2 ω 2 m_1 r_1 {\omega}^2 = m_2 r_2 {\omega}^2 (Angular velocity remains same).
m 1 r 1 = m 2 r 2 \implies m_1 r_1 = m_2 r_2 .

Again, F C 2 = F G m 2 r 2 ω 2 = G m 1 m 2 ( r 1 + r 2 ) 2 ω 2 = G m 1 m 2 × ( r 1 + r 2 ) ( r 1 + r 2 ) 2 × m 2 r 2 × ( r 1 + r 2 ) ω 2 = G m 1 ( m 2 r 1 + m 2 r 2 ) ( r 1 + r 2 ) 3 × m 2 r 2 ω 2 = G m 1 ( m 2 r 1 + m 1 r 1 ) ( r 1 + r 2 ) 3 × m 2 r 2 ω = G ( m 1 + m 2 ) ( r 1 + r 2 ) 3 2 π T = G ( m 1 + m 2 ) ( r 1 + r 2 ) 3 T = 2 π ( r 1 + r 2 ) 3 G ( m 1 + m 2 ) F_{C_2} = F_G\\ \\ \implies m_2 r_2 {\omega}^2 = \dfrac{G m_1 m_2}{{(r_1 + r_2)}^2}\\ \\ \implies {\omega}^2 = \dfrac{G m_1 m_2 × (r_1 + r_2)}{{(r_1 + r_2)}^2 × m_2 r_2 × (r_1 + r_2)}\\ \\ \implies {\omega}^2 = \dfrac{Gm_1(m_2r_1 + m_2 r_2)}{{(r_1 + r_2)}^3 × m_2 r_2}\\ \\ \implies {\omega}^2 = \dfrac{Gm_1(m_2r_1 + m_1 r_1)}{{(r_1 + r_2)}^3 × m_2 r_2}\\ \\ \implies \omega = \sqrt{\dfrac{G(m_1 + m_2)}{{(r_1 + r_2)}^3}}\\ \\ \implies \dfrac{2\pi}{T} = \sqrt{\dfrac{G(m_1 + m_2)}{{(r_1 + r_2)}^3}}\\ \\ \implies T = \boxed{2\pi\sqrt{\dfrac{{(r_1 + r_2)}^3}{G(m_1 + m_2)}}} .

Now we have m 2 = m 1 / 6 m_2 = m_1/6 (because V 1 = 3 V 2 V_1 = 3V_2 and ρ 1 = 2 ρ 2 {\rho}_1 = 2 {\rho}_2 ). Also r 1 + r 2 = 90000 r_1 + r_2 = 90000 m.

Plugging in the values,
T = 2 π ( 90000 ) 3 × 6 2 × 10 30 × 6.67 × 10 11 × 7 = 0.013598 T = 2 \pi \sqrt{\dfrac{{(90000)}^3 × 6}{2×{10}^{30}×6.67 × {10}^{-11}×7}}\\ \\ =0.013598 seconds.
= 13.59852 \color{#3D99F6}{\boxed{13.59852}} milliseconds.

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