HS - ESS1.B - Kepler's Laws - ASSIGNED (KG)

Module: Kepler’s Laws

DCI: ESS1.B Kepler’s laws describe common features of the motion of orbiting objects, including their elliptical paths around the sun. Orbits may change due to the gravitational effects from, or collisions with, other objects in the solar system.

PE: HS-ESS1-4 Use mathematical or computational representations to predict the motion of orbiting objects in the solar system.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on Newtonian gravitational laws governing orbital motions, which apply to human-made satellites as well as planets and moons.] [Assessment Boundary: Mathematical representations for the gravitational attraction of bodies and Kepler’s Laws of orbital motions should not deal with more than two bodies, nor involve calculus.]

The ideas here are: 

- We can use Kepler's laws to describe the motion of orbiting objects

- Planets take an elliptical path around the sun

- An object's orbital path may change due to gravitational effects or collisions with other space objects 

We can ask one general question about the purpose of Kepler's laws, or about the shape of the elliptical path of planets around the Sun. We might be able to get one question out of a mathematical representation, as well.  For instance, we could ask students to tell us which information, about two orbiting bodies, is needed to describe their gravitational attraction. The other 3 questions should be computational.