KS3 Space Lesson 5:

Orbits
 Learning Objective
To explain how objects travel in an orbit.

Success Criteria
• To define what an orbit is.
• To describe the difference between a natural satellite and a humanly-
constructed satellite.
• To investigate the relationship between time period and radius of an orbit.
Target: 10 Points
1 Point 2 Points
2 Points 3 Points 3 Points
What is at the centre of our
Sun ListVenus,
Mercury, the planets
Earth,in order
Our planet Explain why there is which
has an atmosphere life on
Solar System? Mars, starting from the centre
Jupiter, Saturn, of the the
contains Earth but mixture
correct not on other
of gases
UranusSolar
andSystem
Neptune. and travelling planets
to sustain life. This in
is our
due Solar
to System.
outwards. photosynthesis and the production of
oxygen. Earth is at just the right
distance from the Sun which allows
Which is the largest planet? Explain why Pluto is no longer
water Explain
to exist why no
as a liquid onother
its surface.
described as a planet. planets or galaxies have
Jupiter Pluto is now known as a Other planets are too far away from
been explored by humans.
dwarf planet. It is much Earth for manned spacecraft to get to.
smaller than the other Other galaxies are much too far away.
planets in our solar
Which planet is closest tosystem and is
What has an orbit
a light year? Describe, in one paragraph,
the Sun? on a different plain. the difference between
Mercury The distance light travels days, months
A day (24 hours) andtaken
is the time years.
for
in a year. In a year, light the Earth to spin once on its axis. A
can travel around 10 year (365 days) is the time taken for the
trillion km. Earth to orbit the Sun. A month
(approximately 28 days) is the time it
takes for the moon to orbit the Earth.
Orbits
An orbit is a curved path that an object takes around another object.
An object that orbits another object is called a satellite.
A satellite orbits an object when its speed is balanced by the object’s gravitational force.

There are natural satellites, for There are humanly-constructed

example: satellites, for example:

• The Earth’s moon. • communication satellites

• The planets orbiting the Sun. • navigation satellites
• GPS satellites
• polar satellites
Orbits
This image is computer generated by NASA.
It shows all of the objects in Earth’s orbit
that were being tracked in 2005.

Only around 5% of these dots are

functional satellites and the rest are debris.
Image by [Wikimedia.org] is licensed under CC BY 2.0

There is a ring of objects around 35,786km

above the Earth’s equator. They are in
geostationary orbit. These satellites travel
in the same direction and at the same rate
as Earth is spinning. From Earth, these
satellites look like they are standing still
because they are always above the same
place on Earth.

The animation shows a satellite in geostationary

orbit.
Orbits
The other common type of orbit is made by
a polar satellite.

Polar-orbiting satellites travel north to

south, crossing over both poles. Their orbit
is fixed in space so as they travel, the Earth
rotates inside their orbit.

This means these satellites are able to scan

the entire surface of the Earth in a day.

Polar satellites: useful if you want to scan

the entire Earth.

Geostationary satellites: useful if you

want to bounce signals to and from them
because you will always know where
they are.
Types of Satellites
Put the different satellites into the correct columns in the table.

Natural Satellites Humanly-Constructed Satellites

Geostationary Polar
Mars communications weather forecasting
Earth’s moon GPS military observations
Halley’s comet TV

Earth’s moon Halley’s comet

Mars military observation satellites
communications satellites navigation (GPS) satellite
weather forecasting satellites TV satellites
Keywords
Write definitions for these keywords.

An orbit: a curved path that an object takes around another object.

A satellite: an object that orbits around another object.

Sketch a quick diagram of a satellite in orbit around Earth. Can you name the
type of orbit you have drawn?

geostationary orbit polar orbit

Investigating Orbits
Method

1. Find a clear space in the room, away from other people and any obstacles.
2. Measure the length of string attached to your bung and check it is 100cm long.
3. Time how long it takes to swing the bung around your head once and record the
result.
4. Repeat for 80cm, 60cm, 40cm and 20cm lengths of string.

How could we improve this investigation?

Investigating Orbits
Method

1. Find a clear space in the room, away from other people and any obstacles.
2. Measure the length of string attached to your bung and check it is 100cm long.
3. Time how long it takes to swing the bung around
10 times
your
around
headyour
oncehead.
and record
Divide
the
the
result.
measurement by 10 and record the result.
4. Repeat
Repeat for
three
80cm,
times
60cm,
and40cm
calculate
and 20cm
an average.
lengths of string.
5. Repeat for 80cm, 60cm, 40cm and 20cm lengths of string.
Keywords
How do is
A result werepeatable
calculateifthe
accurate itif isaverage?
the
close
original
to the
experimenter
true value. repeats the investigation using the
sameup
Add method and measurements
the three equipment and gets and the same
divide results.
the total by three.
How could we improve the accuracy of this investigation?
How will we know if our results are repeatable?
Time how long it takes to swing the bung 10 times around your head. Divide the
Repeat three times
measurement by 10andandcalculate
record the anresult.
average.
Investigating Orbits
Length of Time for 10 Orbits (s) Average Time Average Time for
String for 10 Orbits (s) One Orbit (s)
(cm) Repeat 1 Repeat 2 Repeat 3
7.00 6.70 6.78 6.83 0.68

100 6.13 6.08 6.03 6.08 0.61

80 5.21 5.38 5.66 5.42 0.54

3.71 4.11 3.72 3.85 0.39
60
2.14 2.40 2.29 2.28 0.23
40
What
20 is the relationship between the length of the string and the time taken to orbit?
As the length of the string decreases, the time taken for the object to orbit
decreases.
Planet Orbits
Planet Orbit Time (days) Velocity (m/s)
Mercury 88 47.4
Venus 225 35.0
Earth 365 29.8
Mars 687 24.1
Jupiter 4331 13.1
Saturn 10 747 9.7
Uranus 30 589 6.8
Neptune 59 800 5.4

Think
Use the
back
results
to your
from
investigation.
your investigation
At which
to predict
length did
what
thewill
bunghappen
spin the
to the
fastest?
orbit time of
the planets as they get further from the Sun.
Predict what will happen to the velocity of the orbits as the planets get further from
As
thethe
Sun.planets get further from the Sun, the time taken to orbit increases.
As the planets get further from the Sun, the velocity decreases.
Extension
There is a ring of objects around 35,786km
above the Earth’s equator. They are in
geostationary orbit. These satellites travel
in the same direction and at the same rate
as the Earth is spinning. From Earth, these
satellites look like they are standing still
because they are always above the same
place on Earth.

Why do all geostationary satellites need to

be at the same height above Earth?
The distance above the Earth affects the
time an orbit takes. To orbit the Earth in
the time it takes for the Earth to rotate
once, this distance needs to be 35,786km. Image by [Wikimedia.org] is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Escape the Room!
Answer the following questions to gain the code, allowing you to leave the classroom.

1. Neptune is the 8 th planet from the Sun.

2. There are 4 letters in the name of the Earth’s natural satellite. (moon)
3. The time it takes for the Earth to orbit the Sun is 365 days.

Leaving Code: 8 , 4 , 3 , 6 , 5 ,