- #Calculate the average speed of the earth in its orbit in kilometers per second how to#
- #Calculate the average speed of the earth in its orbit in kilometers per second software#
And as for the average Earth-Sun distance, the true value changes slightly over time due to gravitational perturbations from the other planets, so there really isn't much point in using a more precise value than the one given above. So under the one approximation that was made, the calculation couldn't really be more 'precise'. This means it is almost a circle, making our approximation valid. It turns out that the orbit of the Earth right now has an eccentricity of about 0.017. The eccentricity of an ellipse is a number that varies between 0 and 1, 0 being a perfect circle, and close to 1 being a very flattened ellipse. They are described by their 'eccentricity', which tells us how flattened they are. But not all ellipses come in the same shape. One of Kepler's laws describing planetary motions states that all orbits are ellipses. This is in fact a very good approximation. The only approximation I did in the calculation I sent you is assuming that the orbit of the Earth is circular. After a period of 1 year, the planet Earth has already returned to its original position with respect to the Sun. This failure to pay attention to unit conversions cost hundreds of millions of dollars, not to mention all the time invested by the scientists and engineers who worked on the project.In the case of your question about the speed of the Earth around the Sun, there isn't really a more 'precise' answer. The average speed of the earth is equal to the distance traveled divided by the time. This error caused the probe to follow a very different trajectory from what NASA thought it was following, which most likely caused the probe either to burn up in the Martian atmosphere or to shoot out into space.
#Calculate the average speed of the earth in its orbit in kilometers per second software#
However, other pieces of software that used these values for course corrections expected them to be recorded in the SI units of newton-seconds (N-s), as dictated in the software interface protocols. Subsequent investigations showed a piece of software called SM_FORCES (or “small forces”) was recording thruster performance data in the English units of pound-seconds (lb-s). On September 23, 1999, while attempting to guide the probe into its planned orbit around Mars, NASA lost contact with it. This probe was launched by NASA on December 11, 1998. recall that a planets semimajor axis, a, is equal to its average distance from the Sun. One famous example of this situation was seen with the Mars Climate Orbiter. Light travels at the amazing pace of 3 × 105 kilometers per. Unit conversions may not seem very interesting, but not doing them can be costly. Average speed and other motion concepts are covered in later chapters.) In equation form, (Take this definition as a given for now. Average speed is distance traveled divided by time of travel. We also want to convert minutes to seconds, so we use the conversion of 60 s in 1 min. In this case, we want to convert miles to meters, so we need to know the fact that there are 1609 m in 1 mi. The correct conversion factors are those that cancel the unwanted units and leave the desired units in their place. ( Note: Average speed is distance traveled divided by time of travel.) Strategyįirst we calculate the average speed using the given units, then we can get the average speed into the desired units by picking the correct conversion factors and multiplying by them. Calculate the average speed in meters per second (m/s). The distance from the university to home is 10 mi and it usually takes 20 min to drive this distance. We write the units we have and then multiply them by the conversion factor so the units cancel out, as shown:Įxample Converting Nonmetric Units to Metric In this case, we know that there are 1000 m in 1 km. Refer to Appendix B for a more complete list of conversion factors. in 1 ft, 1609 m in 1 mi, 100 cm in 1 m, 60 s in 1 min, and so on. A conversion factor is a ratio that expresses how many of one unit are equal to another unit. Next, we need to determine a conversion factor relating meters to kilometers. In this case, we have units in meters and we want to convert to kilometers. The first thing to do is to list the units you have and the units to which you want to convert. Suppose we want to convert 80 m to kilometers.
#Calculate the average speed of the earth in its orbit in kilometers per second how to#
Let’s consider a simple example of how to convert units. In this case, you may need to convert units of feet or meters to miles. Or perhaps you are reading walking directions from one location to another and you are interested in how many miles you will be walking.
For example, if you are reading a European cookbook, some quantities may be expressed in units of liters and you need to convert them to cups.
It is often necessary to convert from one unit to another.