Question

According to Kepler's third law (p2 = a3), how does a planet's mass affect its orbit around the Sun? Group of answer choices

Answer 1

Answer:

A planet's mass has no effect on its orbit around the Sun.

Explanation:

The kepler's third law tells us:

$p^2=a^3$

where $p$ is the orbit period and $a$ is the semi-major axis.

As we can see from the equation, the period depends only on the measure of the semi-major axis $a$ of the orbit, that is, how far a planet is from the sun.

The equation tells us that the closer a planet is to the sun, the faster it will go around it.

The mass does not appear in the equation to calculate the period.

This is why it is concluded from the third law of Kepler that the period, or the orbit of a planet around the sun, does not depend on its mass.

the answer i: A planet's mass has no effect on its orbit around the Sun.