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How do you calculate the average velocity of mercury as it orbits the sun?

User Trevor Orr
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2 Answers

16 votes
16 votes

Final answer:

To calculate the average velocity of mercury as it orbits the sun, use the formula average velocity = distance / time. The distance is the circumference of the circular orbit, which can be calculated using the formula 2πR, and the time is the period of the orbit. Substitute the given values to calculate the average velocity of mercury.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the average velocity of mercury as it orbits the sun, we need to use the formula for average velocity, which is distance divided by time. The distance is the circumference of the circular orbit of mercury, which can be calculated using the formula 2πR, where R is the radius of the orbit. The time is the period of the orbit of mercury. So, the average velocity is the circumference of the orbit divided by the period of the orbit.

Let's use the given average radius of 5.791×10¹⁰ m and the period of 88.0 days to calculate the average velocity:

Average velocity = (2πR) / T

where R = 5.791×10¹⁰ m and T = 88.0 days

Substituting the values, we get:

Average velocity = (2π * 5.791×10¹⁰) / (88.0 * 24 * 60 * 60)

Calculating this expression gives us the average velocity of mercury as it orbits the sun.

User Window
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10 votes
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Answer:Hope this helps!!!!!

Step-by-step explanation:

People are fascinated with high-speed travel. A Boeing 747 flies at about 550 miles per hour. The Concorde Supersonic Transport flew over twice as fast at about 1350 miles per hour. That is impressively fast, but consider the speeds that we passengers on planet Earth always travel. The circumference of the Earth at the equator is 24900 miles and the residents of the tropic areas travel that distance every 24 hours. They are traveling over a thousand miles an hour. At 38° latitude we are traveling about 820 miles per hour. That is quite impressive but it pales in comparison with the orbital speed of the Earth, The average distance of the Earth from sun is 93.5 million miles. This means that in 365.25 days the Earth travels 587.5 million miles. This works out to about 67 thousand miles per hour. This is the speed we travel 24 hours a day, 365.25 days a year.

The orbital velocity is 2πR/T where R is the average radius of the orbit and T is the length of the year. The orbital velocity of a planet relative to that of Earth's is then the relative radius divided by the relative length of the year.

User Saisha
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