Calculation of the Effect of Machines — How to Calculate Kinetic Energy
Last time we learned kinetic energy as the energy of movement. Today we’ll see how to calculate it, using French mathematician Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis’ formula as set out in his textbook,…
Gravity and the Mass of the Sun
As a young school boy I found it hard to believe that scientists were able to compute the mass of our sun. After all, a galactic-sized measuring device does not exist. But…
How Big is the Sun?
Last time we calculated the sun’s force of gravity acting upon Earth. It was the final unknown quantity within Newton’s equation to determine the mass of the sun, an equation we’ve…
What is Earth’s Mass?
Last time we learned how Henry Cavendish used Christiaan Huygens’ work with pendulums to determine the value of g, the acceleration of gravity factor for Earth, to be 32.3 ft/sec2, or…
The Scale of the Solar System
Kepler's laws agree with all observed planetary motions, and by the table in the previous section, they give the correct proportions of all planetary orbits. If the mean distance of…
Transit of Venus
Fig. 1 The 2004 Venus transit observed from 3 locations by the GONG collaboration Kepler's third law allows one to evaluate the dimensions of the solar system in relative units, e.g. in "astronomical units"…
Calculating the Distance to the Sun
We’ve been paying a lot of attention to Venus and its orbital patterns, as did scientist Edmund Halley hundreds of years ago. Back then he came up with a plan to…
Earth’s Orbital Velocity
As Already Discussed Newton’s equation to calculate the sun’s gravitational force acting upon Earth, and here we’ll begin solving for the last remaining unsolved variable within that equation, v, Earth’s…
Using Parallax to Measure Distance
Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight, and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due…
Optically Measuring Cosmic Distances
Last topic we learned that the bigger an optical rangefinder, the better its accuracy in measuring distant objects. here we’ll take that concept a step further when we discover how Earth itself…
