Question

7.

Answer 1

As the distance from the Sun increases the time to orbit the Sun  increases. (a)

Examples:

-- Nearest planet to the sun: Mercury.  Time to orbit the sun: 88 days

-- 3rd planet from the sun:  Earth.  Time to orbit the sun: 1 year

-- 5th planet from the sun:  Jupiter.  Time to orbit the sun: 12 years

-- 9th closest object to the sun:  Pluto.  Time to orbit the sun: 248 years

Another pair of examples:

-- Object in a near Earth orbit:  International Space Station

Time to orbit the Earth:  90 minutes

-- Object in a far Earth orbit:  the Moon

Time to orbit the Earth:  27.3 days

The reason for all of this is:  Two things about orbits.

1).  The larger the orbit is, the farther the object has to travel around it.

2).  The farther out the object is, the slower it travels in its orbit.

This is simply the way gravity works.