Collect Data from Our Solar System Fill in the table. To obtain each planet’s distance from the sun and orbital period, click its name. Sun 0.39 au Mercury Orbital Period: 0.242 years DONE ?include all given digits Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Distance from the sun (au) Orbital Period (years) 1 1.52 5.20 NA 19.18 30.06 1 1.88 NA 29.5
Collect Data from Our Solar System Fill in the table. To obtain each planet’s distance from the sun and orbital period, click its name. Sun 0.39 au Mercury Orbital Period: 0.242 years DONE ?include all given digits Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Distance from the sun (au) Orbital Period (years) 1 1.52 5.20 NA 19.18 30.06 1 1.88 NA 29.5
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
ChatGPT said:
To complete the table from the solar system data screen correctly, we need to fill in the missing distances from the Sun (in astronomical units, AU) and orbital periods (in Earth years) for each planet. The image already shows some values, and we can fill in the missing ones using standard astronomical data.
Completed Table:
| Planet | Distance from the Sun (AU) | Orbital Period (Years) |
|---|---|---|
| Mercury | 0.39 | 0.24 |
| Venus | 0.72 | 0.62 |
| Earth | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Mars | 1.52 | 1.88 |
| Jupiter | 5.20 | 11.86 |
| Saturn | 9.58 | 29.5 |
| Uranus | 19.18 | 84.01 |
| Neptune | 30.06 | 164.8 |
Explanation
This table provides key orbital data for each planet in our solar system. The distance from the Sun is given in astronomical units (AU), where 1 AU is the average distance between Earth and the Sun (about 149.6 million kilometers). The orbital period is the time it takes each planet to complete one orbit around the Sun, expressed in Earth years.
Planets closer to the Sun, like Mercury and Venus, have shorter orbital periods because they travel in smaller orbits and move faster due to the Sun’s stronger gravitational pull at closer distances. Mercury, at 0.39 AU, takes only 0.24 Earth years (about 88 Earth days) to complete an orbit. Venus, at 0.72 AU, takes 0.62 years.
In contrast, outer planets like Uranus and Neptune are much farther from the Sun and move more slowly in their orbits. Neptune, at 30.06 AU, takes about 164.8 Earth years to orbit the Sun once.
This pattern of increasing orbital period with increasing distance from the Sun is described by Kepler’s Third Law. This law states that the square of a planet’s orbital period is proportional to the cube of its average distance from the Sun (T² ∝ R³). The data in the table follow this relationship closely, which is a foundational principle in astronomy.
Understanding these values helps us grasp the scale of our solar system and the dynamics that govern planetary motion. This knowledge is crucial for space exploration, satellite deployment, and even predicting celestial events.
