EARTH SCIENCE PART 1 Origin and Structure of the Solar System

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

CHAPTER 1 - The Universe and Solar System problem of the structure of the universe, they made use of a
process common to their times – reasoning from first principles.
Guidepost
First Principle
By the 16th century, many astronomers were uncomfortable with
the theory that Earth sat at the center of a spherical universe. - It is something that is held to be obviously true.
- Once a principle is recognized as true, whatever can
CLASSICAL ASTRONOMY
be logically derived from it must also be true.
The great philosophers of ancient Greece wrote about many
The three important ideas and seven new terms that show how
different subjects, including what they saw in the sky. Those
first principles influenced early descriptions of the universe and
writings became the foundation on which later astronomers built
its motions are:
modern astronomy.
1. Ancient philosophers and astronomers accepted as
The Aristotelian Universe
first principles that Earth was located at the center
❖ The two greatest philosophers of ancient Greece: (geocentric universe) and that everything in the
1. Plato heavens moved in uniform circular motion. They
2. Aristotle thought it was obvious that Earth did not move because
they did not see the shifting of the stars called parallax.
Their writings shaped the history of astronomy. 2. Notice how the observed motion of the planets did not
Plato (427-347 BCE) fit the theory very well. The retrograde motion of the
planets was very difficult to explain using geocentrism
- He wrote about moral responsibility, ethics, the nature and uniform circular motion.
of reality, and the ideals of civil government. 3. Claudius Ptolemy attempted to explain the motion of
Aristotle (384-322 BCE) the planets mathematically by devising a small circle,
the epicycle, rotating along the edge of a larger circle,
- A student of Plato. the deferent, that enclosed Earth. He even allowed the
- He wrote about almost every area of knowledge and is speed of the planets to vary slightly as they circled a
probably the most famous philosopher in history. slightly off-center point called the equant. In these
These two philosophers established the first widely ways he weakened the principles of geocentrism and
accepted ideas about the structure of the universe. uniform circular motion.

Science and its methods of investigation did not exist in ancient Ptolemy accepted the Aristotelian universe, but he
Greece, so when Plato and Aristotle turned their minds to the was interested in different problem – the motion of
the planets.
Prepared by: Dominador F. Despogado
EARTH SCIENCE PART 1 Origin and Structure of the Solar System
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
- He convinces Queen Isabela of Spain that the world
Ptolemy creates a mathematical description of the was round and not flat but not knowing that the queen
motions he saw in the heavens. For him, first knew that world was round as an educated people who
principle took second place to mathematical knew Aristotle’s astronomy well.
precision. - Columbus had to convince the queen that the world
was small – so small he could sail to the orient by
At first the Ptolemaic system predicted the positions heading West.
of the planets well; but, as centuries passed, errors
THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION
accumulated.
Nicolaus Copernicus
In the middle of the 13th century, a team of
astronomers supported by King Alfonso X of Castile - He triggers a revolution in astronomy and science.
studied the Almagest for 10 years. They simplified - He was born in 1473 to a merchant family in Poland.
the calculation of the positions of the planets using - Orphaned at the age of 10, he was raised by his uncle,
the Ptolemaic system and published the result as an important bishop, who sent him to the University of
The Alfonsine Tables, the last great attempt to Kracow and then to the best universities in Italy where
make the Ptolemaic system of practical use. he studied law and medicine. Nevertheless, he had a
passion for astronomy even as a student.
Cosmic Zoom
The Copernican Model
- It gave a preview of the scale of the universe as we
expanded our field of view from Earth to include our - In 1514, he wrote an essay proposing a model of a
solar system, our galaxy, and finally billions of other heliocentric universe in which the sun, not Earth, was
galaxies. the center. To explain the daily and annual cycles of
- The ancients didn’t know about stars and galaxies, and the sky, he proposed that Earth rotates on its axis and
they imagined a universe that was much smaller. The revolves around the sun.
Earth lay at the center of their universe surrounded by PLANETARY MOTION
crystalline shells carrying the planets with the starry
sphere just beyond the outermost planetary shell. The Copernican hypothesis solved the problem of the
place of the Earth, but it didn’t explain planetary motion.
Common Misconception
Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
Christopher Columbus

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EARTH SCIENCE PART 1 Origin and Structure of the Solar System
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
- He was not a churchman like Copernicus but rather a way, Tycho preserved the central immobile Earth.
nobleman from an important family, educated at the Although Tycho’s model was very popular at first, the
finest universities. Copernican model replaced it within a century.
- His nose was badly disfigured, and for the rest of his - In 1596, he went to Prague, the capital of Bohemia, and
life he wore false noses made of gold and silver, stuck became imperial mathematician to the Holy Roman
on with wax. Emperor Rudolph II. His goal was to revise the
- His real passions were mathematics and astronomy, Alfonsine Tables and publish the result as a monument
and early in his university days he began measuring to his new patron. It would be called the Rudolphine
the positions of the planets in the sky. Tables.
- In 1563, Jupiter and Saturn passed very near each - To assist him, he hired a few mathematicians and
other in the sky, nearly merging into a single point on astronomers, including one Johannes Kepler.
the night of August 24. Tycho found that the Alfonsine - In November 1601, Tycho collapsed at a nobleman’s
Tables were a full month in error and that the Prutenic home. Before he died, 11 days later, he asked Rudolph
Tables were in error by a number of days. II to make Kepler imperial mathematician then the
- In 1572, a “new star” (now called Tycho’s supernova) newcomer became Tycho’s replacement.
appeared in sky, shining more brightly than Venus, and
Kepler: An Astronomer of Humble Origins
Tycho carefully measured its position.
Johannes Kepler
De Stella Nova (The New Star)
- He was born in 1571 to a poor family in a region that is
- A small book published in 1573 by Tycho.
now part of southwest Germany.
- A book he published against the Ptolemaic theory,
- His father was principally employed as a mercenary
when he failed to detect parallax on the new star.
soldier fighting for whoever paid enough.
- Tycho’s family introduced him to the court of the Danish
- His mother was apparently an unpleasant and
king Frederick II, where he was offered funds to build
unpopular woman and was accused of witchcraft.
an observatory on the island of Hveen just of the
- In 1596, he published a book called The Forerunner of
Danish coast.
Dissertation on the Universe, Containing the Mystery
Tycho Brahe’s Legacy of the Universe. The book, like nearly all scientific
works of that age, was written in Latin and is now
- He devised a complex model in which Earth was the
known as Mysterium Cosmographicum.
immobile center of the universe around which the sun
and moon moved. The other planets circled the sun.
the model thus incorporated part of Copernican model,
but in its Earth – not the sun – was stationary. In this
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EARTH SCIENCE PART 1 Origin and Structure of the Solar System
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
Mysterium Cosmographicum Kepler’s Three Laws of Planetary Motion
- It begins with a long appreciation of Copernicanism and Ellipse
then goes on to speculate planetary orbits.
- A figure that can be drawn around two points, called
- In Kepler’s model, the five regular solids as spacer for
the foci, in such a way that the distance from one focus
the orbits of the six planets are: cube, tetrahedron,
to any point on the ellipse and back to the other focus
icosahedron, dodecahedron, and octahedron.
equals a constant.
Joining Tycho - The geometry of an ellipse is described by two simple
numbers.
- Kepler began by studying the motion of Mars, trying to
Semimajor axis (a) is the half of the longest diameter.
deduce from the observations how the planet moved.
Eccentricity ( e ) is half the distance between the foci
- By 1606, he had solved the mystery, this time correctly.
divided by the semimajor axis.
The orbit of Mars is not a circle but a very slightly
elongated ellipse, and with that he abandoned the
- The eccentricity of an ellipse tells you, its shape; if e is
2000-year-old belief in the circular motion of the
nearly equal to one, the ellipse is very elongated. If e is
planets.
closer to zero, the ellipse is more circular.
- The planets do not move at uniform speeds along their
elliptical orbits. Kepler’s analysis showed that they
- Ellipses are a prominent part of Kepler’s three
move faster when close to the sun and slower when
fundamental rules of planetary motion. Those rules
farther away.
have been tested and confirmed so many times that
- He published his results in 1609 in a book called
astronomers now refer to them as natural laws. They
Astronomia Nova (New Astronomy).
are commonly called “Kepler’s Laws of Planetary
- He wrote about a supernova that appeared in 1604
Motion.”
(now known as Kepler’s supernova) and about comets,
and he wrote a textbook about Copernican astronomy.
- In 1619, he published Harmonices Mundi (The First Law (Law of Elliptical Orbit or Law of Ellipses)
Harmony of the World), in which he returned to the
The orbits of the planets are ellipses with the sun at one
cosmic mysteries of Mysterium Cosmographicum.
focus.
Harmonices Mundi
Second Law (Law of Equal Areas)
- The only thing of note of this Kepler’s book is his
A line from a planet to the sun sweeps over equal areas in
discovery that the radii of the planetary orbits are
equal intervals of time.
related to the planets’ orbital periods.

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EARTH SCIENCE PART 1 Origin and Structure of the Solar System
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
Perihelion – when planet is nearest to the sun PLANET MEAN DISTANCE
PERIOD
FROM THE SUN
Aphelion – when planet is farthest to the sun (T in days)
(r in kilometers)
Third Law (Law of Periods) Mercury 57.9 x 106 88.023
A planet’s orbital period squared is proportional to its Venus 108.2 x 106 224.623
average distance from the sun cubed: Earth 149.6 x 106 365.24
Mars 227.9 x 106 686.651
P2y = a2AU or r31/T21 = r22/T22
In symbol,
The Rudolphine Tables
r = mean distance from the sun (km)
Kepler continued his mathematical work on the Rudolphine
T = period (days) Tables, and at last, in 1627, it was ready. He financed the printing
himself, dedicating the book to the memory of Tycho Brahe.
The Rudolphine Tables was Kepler’s masterpiece. It could predict
Applying to the planet Earth, TEarth = 365.34 days and rEarth =
the positions of the planets 10 to 100 times more accurately than
149.6 x 106 km.
previous tables.
Meaning that r3/T2 should be the same or constant for each
The accuracy of the Rudolphine Tables was strong evidence that
planet. So, determine value of proportionality constant k, the
both Kepler’s planetary motion and the Copernican hypothesis for
value of Earth’s known orbit could be used:
the place of the Earth were correct.
So, r3/T2 = k or proportionality constant
Kepler died in 1630 and solved the problem of planetary motion
and his Rudolphine Tables demonstrated his solution.
(149.6 𝑥 106 𝑘𝑚)3 𝒌𝒎𝟑
= 𝟐. 𝟓𝟏𝒙𝟏𝟎 𝟏𝟗 GALILEO GALILEI
(365.24 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠)2 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔𝟐
Common misconceptions about Galileo:
Thus, ratio of the cube of the mean distance of Earth from the
𝒌𝒎𝟑 1. Galileo did not invent the telescope.
Sun and the square of its revolution is 𝟐. 𝟓𝟏𝒙𝟏𝟎𝟏𝟗 . 2. He was not condemned by the inquisition for believing that
𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔𝟐
Earth moved around the sun.
Some Given Values of the Mean Distance (km) and period (days)
of Planets

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EARTH SCIENCE PART 1 Origin and Structure of the Solar System
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
Telescopic Observations Isaac Newton
Galileo Galilei - He was born in Woolsthorpe, England on December
25, 1642, and on January 4, 1643. This was not a
- He was born in 1564 in Pisa, a city in what is now Italy,
biological anomaly but a calendrical quirk.
and he studied medicine at the city’s university.
- His uncle financed his education at Trinity College,
- It was the telescope that finally drove Galileo to publicly
where he studied mathematics and physics.
defend the heliocentric model. The telescope was
- During 1665 and 1666, Newton spent his time at home
apparently invented around 1608 by lens makers in
in Woolsthorpe, thinking and studying. It was during
Holland.
these years that he made most of his discoveries in
- In fact, Galileo was not the first person to look at the
optics, mechanics, and mathematics.
sky through a telescope, but he was the first person to
- Among other things, he studied optics, developed the
apply telescopic observations to the theoretical
three laws of motion, divined the nature of gravity, and
problem of the day – the place of Earth.
invented calculus.
Siderius Nuncius (The Starry Messenger) - The publication of his work in his book Principia in 1687
placed science on a firm analytical base.
- A small book rushed into print by Galileo of what he
saw through his telescopes containing his three major Mass
discoveries.
- It is the measure of the amount of matter in the object,
The three major discoveries are:
usually expressed in kilograms.
1. The moon was not perfect. It had mountains and
valleys on its surface, and Galileo even used some Weight
of the mountains’ shadows to calculate their height.
- It is the force that Earth’s gravity exerts on the object.
2. The Milky Way was made up of myriad stars too
faint to see with the unaided eye. Inverse Square Relation
3. The telescope revealed four new “planets” circling
Jupiter, objects known today as the Galilean - The force of gravity decreases as the square of the
moons of Jupiter. distance between the objects increases.

De Revolutionibus Law of Gravitation (1687)

- It is recognized as an important and useful book in - “Every particle of matter in the universe attracts every
astronomy and was only suspended pending revision. other particle with a force that is directly proportional to
the product of the masses of the particles and inversely
ISAAC NEWTON AND ORBITAL MOTION

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EARTH SCIENCE PART 1 Origin and Structure of the Solar System
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
proportional to the square of the distance between Solution:
them.”
Because the spheres are spherically symmetric, we can calculate
In symbol or equation, Fg by treating them as particles separated by 0.0500 m. Each
sphere experiences the same magnitude of force from the other
Fg = Gm1m2/r2
sphere. We use Newton’s law of gravitation to determine Fg:
where;
Fg = (6.67 x 10-11 N.m2/kg2)(0.0100 kg)(0.500 kg)/(0.0500 m)
Fg = the magnitude of gravitational force
Fg = 1.33 x 10-10 N
G = gravitational constant
m1 and m2 = masses
Acceleration due to Gravitational Attraction
r = distance
Example:
Suppose the two spheres in the previous example are placed with
their centers 0.0500 m apart at a point in space far removed from
all other bodies. What is the magnitude of the acceleration of
Determining the Value of G each, relative to an inertial system?
Henry Cavendish
- He measured the gravitational force with the used of Solution:
an instrument called torsion balance in 1798.
Each sphere exerts on the other a gravitational force of the same
G = 6.67 x 10-11 N.m2/kg2 magnitude Fg , which we found in the previous example. We can
Calculating Gravitational Force neglect any other forces. The acceleration magnitudes a1 and a2
are different because the masses are different. To determine
Example: these, we’ll use Newton’s second law:
The mass m1 of one of the small spheres of a Cavendish balance a1 = Fg/m1 = 1.33 x 10-10 N/0.0100 kg = 1.33 x 10-8 m/s2
is 0.0100 kg, the mass m2 of the nearest large sphere is 0.500
kg, and the center-to-center distance between them is 0.0500 m. a2 = Fg/m2 = 1.33 x 10-10 N/0.500 kg = 2.66 x 10-10 m/s2
Find the gravitational force Fg on each sphere due to the other.

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