Final answer:
The period of revolution of a planet increases with its distance from the Sun as described by Kepler's third law, which states that the square of the orbital period is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis.
Step-by-step explanation:
The distance from the sun affects a planet's period of revolution based on a principle discovered by Johannes Kepler in 1619. This principle, known as Kepler's third law, states that the square of a planet's orbital period (P) is proportional to the cube of its semi-major axis (a), the planet's average distance from the Sun.
This can be mathematically expressed as P^2 ∝ a^3. Analysis of this law implies that the further a planet is from the Sun, the longer its period of revolution will be. For example, Mercury, which has an eccentric orbit, moves faster when it is closer to the Sun and slower when it is further away, resulting in variations in how we would observe the Sun from Mercury's surface.
Clarifying this concept further, if we compare two planets and find that one has a larger semi-major axis, we could use Kepler's law to predict that it would also have a longer orbital period than a planet located closer to the Sun. To illustrate with numbers, a planet which is twice as far from the Sun as another (having twice the semi-major axis) would have an orbital period that is roughly 2^1.5 or about 2.83 times greater than that of the closer planet.