Question

Kepler's laws describe the?

1) motions of the planets around the Sun
2) motion of the spin axis of Earth over long time periods
3) motions of the planets around Earth
4) motion of the Moon around the Sun

Answer 1

Kepler's laws describe the motions of planets in their orbits around the Sun, with orbits being elliptical and having the Sun at one focus. These laws provide a geometric description that was later explained by Newton's gravitational theory.

Step-by-step explanation:

Kepler's laws describe the motions of the planets around the Sun. Specifically, these laws are:

• Planetary orbits are ellipses with the Sun at one focus.
• Planets sweep out equal areas during equal intervals of time.
• The square of a planet's orbital period is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit.

These laws were formulated based on the precise geometrical description of the movement of planets within the Copernican system. The laws are descriptive and were later supplemented by Newton's laws of motion and his universal law of gravitation, which provided the forces causing these motions.