Kepler's Law-Orbital Motion

Description
"The lecture summarizes the results for the motion of earth around sun in circular orbits.The three laws of Kepler are stated and explained.The discussion is then extended for elliptical orbit and results are compared at each step.Expression for total energy is used to calculate semi major axis of the elliptical orbit and hence the time period. using data for earth and sun all the approximate numerical values of semi major axis , time period etc are calculated. Conservation of angular momentum and mechanical energy is used to calculate the velocity at apogee and perigee. Actual values of earth and sun's radius, mass are used which gives us the idea about the exact values of velocity at apogee and prigee and time period The example of a rocket ejected from earth is considered with a number of simplifying assumptions.It begins with the condition under which the orbit of a rocket may change from circular to elliptical Two satellites are moving at a distance in the same orbit and an object is to be thrown from one to other. To calculate the speed and trajectory of the object thrown such that it reaches the other satellite a computer program has been devised which helps in trying out any number of combinations."

Prof. Walter Lewin, 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare), http://ocw.mit.edu (Accessed June 13, 2011). License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA: http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/#cc