71.7k views
1 vote
Neptune has an average distance to the sun of 30.06 AU. In two or more complete sentences, explain how to calculate the orbital period of Neptune, and then calculate it.

User Aglour
by
7.6k points

1 Answer

1 vote

As per Kepler's law we know that


(T_1^2)/(T_2^2) = (R_1^3)/(R_2^3)

as we know that for earth the time period is 1 year and its distance is 1 AU

now from above formula we can say

let the time period of Neptune is T and its distance is given as R = 30.06 AU

now we will have


(1^2)/(T^2) = (1^3)/(30.06^3)

by rearranging the above equation we have


T^2 = (30.06)^3


T = 164.8 years

so it will have time period of 164.8 years

User Uyetch
by
8.4k points