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Was a mathematician who showed that the orbits of the planets were elliptical?
Wiki User
∙ 6y ago
Aristotle:
i know it's a lot but i had that question on my science test and i got it right!
Aristotle (lived 384--322 B.C.E.) was a student of Plato and had probably the most significant influence on many fields of studies (science, theology, philosophy, etc.) of any single person in history. He thought that Plato had gone too far with his instrumentalist view of theories. Aristotle taught arealistview: scientific, mathematical tools are not merely tools---they characterize the way the universe actually is. At most onemodel is correct. The model he chose was one developed by another follower of Plato, Eudoxus. The planets and stars were on concentric crystalline spheres centered on the Earth. Each planet, the Sun, and the Moon were on their own sphere. The stars were placed on the largest sphere surrounding all of the rest.
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
Wiki User
∙ 15y ago# "The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the sun at a focus." # "A line joining a planet and the sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time."[1] # "The square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit."
Wiki User
∙ 11y agoJohann Carl friedrich Gauss
Wiki User
∙ 12y agojohannes kepler
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Who said the planets traveled in oval orbits?
Everyone from the ancient Greeks on knew that the planets move in oval-type orbits, which were simulated by systems of circles. Later, after years of hard work, Johannes Kepler published the laws of planetary motion in 1618 which showed that the orbits are more accurately represented by ellipses, and each planet has its own ellipse with the Sun at one focus. Ellipses make very good approximations to the actual orbits of planets, but the gravitational effects of the other planets, especially Jupiter, mean that the planets depart slightly from true elliptical orbits. That is taken care of by regular updates to the orbital elements of the planets, which are numbers which describe the sizes and shapes, orientation and inclination of all the planets' elliptical orbits.
Who worked out that the planets orbits are flattened circles?
Johannes Kepler, using measured planetary positional data provided by Tycho Brahe, showed that the orbits of the planets were ellipses ("flattened circles"), with the Sun at one focus of the eliipse.
Why does the planet's orbit take an elliptical shape?
Any object in a central inverse-square force-field, like the Sun's gravity, must take up an elliptical orbit that follows Kepler's laws. This was shown to be true by Isaac Newton in the 17th century using his law of gravity, laws of motion and differential calculus. The planets all have orbits that are technically elliptical but with only a small amount of eccentricity, so that the orbits look very nearly circular with the Sun off-centre by a distance equal to the average distance times the eccentricity. This is why it took 2000 years for mankind to discover elliptical orbits, because the previous model of circles and epicycles gave very good predictions of the planets' positions, until the late 16th century when Tycho Brahe came up with very accurate measuring techniques that showed the flaws in the old model and allowed Kepler to make his discovery.
Did Galileo believe in the elliptical motion of the planets around the sun?
No, both the systems that Galileo knew about were based on circular motion. The geocentric Ptolemaic system and the heliocentric Copernican system both used complex systems of circles and epicycles to describe the planets' movements, and these models were reasonably accurate. It was Kepler who started to use the idea of elliptical orbits after Tycho Brahe made new and accurate measurements that showed faults in predictions made by the two old systems. Keplers detailed mathematical work was purely descriptive, in that his new model described the planets' positions in the sky more accurately than ever before, but he did not know why his model should be as accurate as it clearly was. Later, Newton produced a new theory explaining why the planets would be expected to move in elliptical orbits under the force of gravity. That is the modern model of the solar system, with slight adjustments after Einstein's general theory of relativity.
How did Galileo help prove that Copernicus' theory about the solar system was right?
He didn't know it, he just brought out a new theory that showed that with the Sun at the centre the planets' paths could be explained more simply. That was in 1543 and Kepler produced another heliocentric theory in 1609 which had the planets moving in elliptical orbits round the Sun. The only thing in favour of Kepler's theory at the time was that it explained the planets' positions more accurately than previous theories. But 80-90 years later Newton's discoveries in gravity and the laws of motion were used to prove by theory that the planets must move in elliptical orbits.
What was Kepler contribution to astronomy?
He showed that the planets traveled in elliptical orbits
His calculations showed that the planets revolve around the sun in elliptical orbits?
Kepler
List two factors that Newton showed combined to keep the planets in their elliptical orbits?
gravity and inertia
Kepler showed that the orbits of the planets are?
Ellipses.
How did newton's theories explain why planets orbit the sun and why moons orbit?
Kepler found from observations that the planets move in elliptical orbits. Newton then showed with his theoretical discoveries that the force of gravity from a massive central object produces elliptical orbits in smaller objects. The theories he used were the law of gravity, the laws of motion and the differential calculus. Using these he showed that an object in an elliptical orbit is continuously accelerating towards the central object. Its sideways velocity and mass prevent it from falling directly in.
Who said the planets traveled in oval orbits?
Everyone from the ancient Greeks on knew that the planets move in oval-type orbits, which were simulated by systems of circles. Later, after years of hard work, Johannes Kepler published the laws of planetary motion in 1618 which showed that the orbits are more accurately represented by ellipses, and each planet has its own ellipse with the Sun at one focus. Ellipses make very good approximations to the actual orbits of planets, but the gravitational effects of the other planets, especially Jupiter, mean that the planets depart slightly from true elliptical orbits. That is taken care of by regular updates to the orbital elements of the planets, which are numbers which describe the sizes and shapes, orientation and inclination of all the planets' elliptical orbits.
Who gathered the data that showed that the planets travel in elliptical paths around the sun?
Tycho Brahe.
Who discovered true shape of the planetary orbits?
Johannes Kepler showed that IF the planetary orbits are elliptical,THEN that would explain the measurements that Tycho Brahe collectedduring his whole life.Isaac Newton showed that IF gravity works the way he thought it does,THEN the planetary orbits would have to be elliptical.Both of these are only theories. They have never been proven.
Kelper used brahes observations to show that the orbits of the the planets are.?
The question is going for the answer "elliptical". But it needs an important comment:Kepler didn't show that the orbits of the planets "are" anything. He had no way to do that.What he showed was the fact that a system of elliptical orbits with the sun at the centerof everything fits the actual observed evidence better than any other proposed model.That didn't prove anything. It only made his model the best, most likely representation ofthe truth, until something better comes along. You might say it was "just a theory".That's how Science works.
Who worked out that the planets orbits are flattened circles?
Johannes Kepler, using measured planetary positional data provided by Tycho Brahe, showed that the orbits of the planets were ellipses ("flattened circles"), with the Sun at one focus of the eliipse.
What are the strengths of the heliocentric model?
Its main strength is that it is the model which is universally accepted by everyone. Copernicus put forward a heliocentric model that used circular orbits. That meant he couldn't completely eliminate all the complications of the old geocentric model, such as "epicycles". Later Kepler showed that the planets move in elliptical orbits. The basic idea of the heliocentric model is that the Sun is at the centre. One of the main strengths is the simplicity of the heliocentric model. Kepler's version (still used today) of the model with its elliptical orbits is particularly elegant and simple, with no epicycles.
What laws of motion explained Kepler's proposal of elliptical orbits?
The general laws about the planets' orbits were known before Newton - mainly, through the three Laws of Planetary Motion, by Kepler. Newton showed that the movement - as explained in Kepler's Laws - was a result of the laws of motion (especially Newton's Second Law), and of the force of gravitation.
