- #1
Cfem
- 26
- 0
This isn't a HW question exactly, but I'm trying to model planetary motion and I've having trouble remembering something I learned a while ago when I took physics.
I remember that the tangential velocity for a something to orbit a planet is v = sqrt(-G * M/r), but I need to decompose this into an x velocity an a y velocity and I'm having issues with the Trig because I remember you have to draw the trig triangles properly or else the calculations don't come out properly. I need to break down the tangential velocity of each planet with respect to the sun into velocities in the x and y planes
My initial thought was to have it be something like
V_x = v_t * sin(angle between sun and planet)
V_y = v_t * cos(angle between sun and planet)
But it seems too simple and I don't know if that's correct.
There's a similar problem going on with calculating the acceleration of the planet. Once again, I need to break the acceleration cause by the gravitational force between the sun and the planet into x and y components.
F = ma set to the gravitational force, etc etc => a(towards the sun) = G * m_s / R
So to break it up I was going to do something similar to the above, but I can't get the trig triangles to look right.
If this is in the wrong section/is considered a HW problem, feel free to move it, but it's just a conceptual stumbling block I"m having because it's been a while since I've taken Physics and I need to get these right to try and construct a proper model.
Thanks.
I remember that the tangential velocity for a something to orbit a planet is v = sqrt(-G * M/r), but I need to decompose this into an x velocity an a y velocity and I'm having issues with the Trig because I remember you have to draw the trig triangles properly or else the calculations don't come out properly. I need to break down the tangential velocity of each planet with respect to the sun into velocities in the x and y planes
My initial thought was to have it be something like
V_x = v_t * sin(angle between sun and planet)
V_y = v_t * cos(angle between sun and planet)
But it seems too simple and I don't know if that's correct.
There's a similar problem going on with calculating the acceleration of the planet. Once again, I need to break the acceleration cause by the gravitational force between the sun and the planet into x and y components.
F = ma set to the gravitational force, etc etc => a(towards the sun) = G * m_s / R
So to break it up I was going to do something similar to the above, but I can't get the trig triangles to look right.
If this is in the wrong section/is considered a HW problem, feel free to move it, but it's just a conceptual stumbling block I"m having because it's been a while since I've taken Physics and I need to get these right to try and construct a proper model.
Thanks.