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 , 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:
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Let m 1 and 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 from the sun and r 2 from the planet. The position of the center of mass would be ( m 1 + m 2 ) m 2 ( r 1 + r 2 ) .
Let the centripetal force on sun be F C 1 and on planet be F C 2 about the center of mass. Let F G be the gravitational force between them.
Now F C 1 = F G = F C 2 .
So, m 1 r 1 ω 2 = m 2 r 2 ω 2 (Angular velocity remains same).
⟹ m 1 r 1 = m 2 r 2 .
Again, F C 2 = F G ⟹ m 2 r 2 ω 2 = ( r 1 + r 2 ) 2 G m 1 m 2 ⟹ ω 2 = ( r 1 + r 2 ) 2 × m 2 r 2 × ( r 1 + r 2 ) G m 1 m 2 × ( r 1 + r 2 ) ⟹ ω 2 = ( r 1 + r 2 ) 3 × m 2 r 2 G m 1 ( m 2 r 1 + m 2 r 2 ) ⟹ ω 2 = ( r 1 + r 2 ) 3 × m 2 r 2 G m 1 ( m 2 r 1 + m 1 r 1 ) ⟹ ω = ( r 1 + r 2 ) 3 G ( m 1 + m 2 ) ⟹ T 2 π = ( r 1 + r 2 ) 3 G ( m 1 + m 2 ) ⟹ T = 2 π G ( m 1 + m 2 ) ( r 1 + r 2 ) 3 .
Now we have m 2 = m 1 / 6 (because V 1 = 3 V 2 and ρ 1 = 2 ρ 2 ). Also r 1 + r 2 = 9 0 0 0 0 m.
Plugging in the values,
T = 2 π 2 × 1 0 3 0 × 6 . 6 7 × 1 0 − 1 1 × 7 ( 9 0 0 0 0 ) 3 × 6 = 0 . 0 1 3 5 9 8 seconds.
= 1 3 . 5 9 8 5 2 milliseconds.