Lesson Plan: Elliptical Motion
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to calculate the properties of the orbits of objects that move along elliptical orbits.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- identify the major, minor, semimajor, and semiminor axes of an ellipse,
- identify the foci of an ellipse,
- identify the perihelion and aphelion of a planet or another object in an elliptical orbit around the Sun,
- identify the perigee and apogee of the Moon or another object in an elliptical orbit around Earth,
- use in all permutations to relate the eccentricity of an ellipse to the distance from its center to a focus to the semimajor axis of the ellipse.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- circular orbits,
- the structure of the solar system,
- astronomical units.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- hyperbolic trajectories,
- general relativity,
- Lagrange points.
