Just the planets (1)

The Planets Name __Jillian Desmarais___________________ Planet AU from the Sun Period of revolution Period of rotation Diameter (mi) Mass relative to Earth Density Number of moons Mercury 0.4 88 D 59 D 3015.06 0.056 5.4 0 Venus 0.7 224.7 D 244 D* 7526.18 0.82 5.2 0 Earth 1 365.25 D 1 D 7919.88 1 5.5 1 Mars 1.5 687 D 1.02 D 4216 0.108 3.9 2 Jupiter 5 11.86 Y 0.4097 D 88700.3 317.87 1.3 79 Saturn 10 29.46 Y 0.426 D 75000.16 95.14 0.7 82 Uranus 20 84 Y 0.718 D 28999.88 15.56 1.2 27 Neptune 30 165 Y 0.669 D 28900.06 17.21 1.7 14 D is Earth days Y is Earth years *Retrograde – Venus is spinning clockwise not counterclockwise. Density is mass per unit of volume water has a density of exactly 1, ie one gram per cubic centimeter. Look at the densities of the Jovian versus the terrestrial planets. 1) What is the average density of the Jovian planets? 1.2 2) What is the average density of the terrestrial planets? 5 3) Why are they so different? Because of what they are made up of. The terrestrial planets are made of rocks and the jovian planets are made of gas. Remember that period of rotation is how long it takes a planet to spin. It can also be thought of as how long a day is. The unit “D” for period of rotation is Earth Days. 4) How long is a day on Mercury? 59D 5) How long is a day on Neptune? 0.669D 6) Does distance from the Sun have anything to do with the period of rotation?

Yes 7) Do jovian planets have longer or shorter days than terrestrial planets? They have longer days because of how far away from the sun they and and how much rotation they have to complete one full rotation around the sun. 8) So are they spinning faster or slower than terrestrial planets? They are spinning slower Revolution is how long it takes a planet to go around the sun. This is a year on that planet. 9) How long is a year on Mercury? 88D 10) How long is a year on Neptune? 165D 11) Is the period of revolution related to distance from the sun? If so How? Yes, because the further from the sun a planet is the longer it has to go around in order to make a full rotation which then goes into making a full revolution around the sun. Remember that Kepler’s third law relates how far a planet is from the sun to its orbital period. P 2 =D 3 where P is the period and D is the distance to the sun in AUs. So if a planet is 2 AUs from the sun; P 2 = D 3 P 2 = 2 3 P 2 = 8 P = √ ❑ P= 2.8 Earth Years So it takes the planet 2.8 Earth years to go around the Sun 12) What is the orbital period of a planet that sits 3 AUs from the sun? 5.1 AUs 13) What is the orbital period of a planet that sits 7 AUs from the sun? 18.5 AUs We can use the period of rotation and revolution to figure out how many of a planets days