Wolfram Demonstrations Project

13,000+ Open Interactive Demonstrations
Powered by Notebook Technology »

Motion of a Planet around a Star

Initializing live version
Download to Desktop

Requires a Wolfram Notebook System

Interact on desktop, mobile and cloud with the free Wolfram Player or other Wolfram Language products.

This Demonstration shows how a planet moves around a massive star like the Sun. Set the initial position and velocity before triggering the animation.

[more]

For the sake of simplicity, it is assumed that the gravitational constant is equal to unity and that the mass of the planet is much smaller than that of the star. You can view the instantaneous velocity and force acting on the planet (using arbitrary units) by checking the appropriate controls. The trajectory of motion changes as you change the initial conditions.

[less]

Contributed by: Árpád Kósa (March 2011)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA

Snapshots

Details

detailSectionParagraph
Embed Code

Take advantage of the Wolfram Notebook Emebedder for the recommended user experience.

Related Demonstrations More by Author
Browse all topics
Feedback (field required)
Email (field required) Name
Occupation Organization
Note: Your message & contact information may be shared with the author of any specific Demonstration for which you give feedback.
Send