Name: Robert
Status: other
Grade: other
Location: NV
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
The rotational velocity of the earth around the
sun exceeds that of the moon around the earth therefore the moon
never moves retrograde in its solar orbit and its actual path
about the sun resembles a sine wave but giving the appearance of
a circular path about the earth. Are my conclusions correct and if not why not?
Replies:
Dear Robert,
Without spending the time on the math, I believe you are
right. And the sine wave path of the Moon about the Sun would be
hard to see at the scale of the Earth's orbit.
NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.