Ellipse the Way

Classical Mechanics Level 1

Figure above shows the elliptical path of a planet about the sun (S). The two shaded parts have equal area. If $t_{1}$ and $t_{2}$ be the time taken by the planet to go from $a$ to $b$ and from $c$ to $d$ , respectively, then which condition is true?

t_{1}

t_{2}

t_{1}

t_{2}

Insufficient Information

t_{1}

t_{2}

1 solution

A Former Brilliant Member
Jan 24, 2018

Kepler's 2nd Law: A radius vector joining any planet to the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal lengths of time.

Once you realize this, the answer is quite obvious.

Ellipse the Way

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