- #1
Daniel Sarioglu
- 2
- 0
Hello,
I'm a high-school student and I was assigned to do this kind of a paper as a senior (one of the requirements of graduating is a short monograph on a subject of interest.)
My topic includes an analysis of Mercury's orbit using Newton and Kepler's equations and comparing the predicted trajectory vs the correct one. Just to clarify, my intentions are not to delve into relativity to predict the "correct trajectory," but to compare my calculations according to Newtonian Physics and the orbital parameters (i.e major axis, minor axis, distance between foci of ellipse, etc...) found in online sources like NASA or sth -which I suppose corresponds to the trajectory described by relativity.
My problem lies in not knowing which variables are dependent of modern "non Newtonian" conceptions and therefore would have to find myself. For example, deriving from the inverse square law and the polar equation for an ellipse, I got the following:
[itex]
\begin{equation*}
L_e = \frac{L_P^2}{Gm_Sm_P^2}
\end{equation*}
[/itex]
Being ##L_e## the semi latus rectum of the elipse, ##L_P##, the angular momentum of the planet, ##G## the gravitational constant, and ##m_S## and ##m_P## the masses of the Sun and the planet correspondingly.
I'm not too sure whether I can get a "Newtonian" measurement if I were to pluck in the data found online for the masses and the angular momentum into the equation. Should I instead calculate the masses and the angular velocity myself? If so, how would one proceed?
I'm a high-school student and I was assigned to do this kind of a paper as a senior (one of the requirements of graduating is a short monograph on a subject of interest.)
My topic includes an analysis of Mercury's orbit using Newton and Kepler's equations and comparing the predicted trajectory vs the correct one. Just to clarify, my intentions are not to delve into relativity to predict the "correct trajectory," but to compare my calculations according to Newtonian Physics and the orbital parameters (i.e major axis, minor axis, distance between foci of ellipse, etc...) found in online sources like NASA or sth -which I suppose corresponds to the trajectory described by relativity.
My problem lies in not knowing which variables are dependent of modern "non Newtonian" conceptions and therefore would have to find myself. For example, deriving from the inverse square law and the polar equation for an ellipse, I got the following:
[itex]
\begin{equation*}
L_e = \frac{L_P^2}{Gm_Sm_P^2}
\end{equation*}
[/itex]
Being ##L_e## the semi latus rectum of the elipse, ##L_P##, the angular momentum of the planet, ##G## the gravitational constant, and ##m_S## and ##m_P## the masses of the Sun and the planet correspondingly.
I'm not too sure whether I can get a "Newtonian" measurement if I were to pluck in the data found online for the masses and the angular momentum into the equation. Should I instead calculate the masses and the angular velocity myself? If so, how would one proceed?