Q.The planet Mars has two moons, phobos and delmos.
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Kepler's Third Law: The Harmony of the Planets
Imagine you're watching two planets orbiting the Sun. One is close in — Mercury, zipping around in just 88 days. Another is far out — Saturn, taking nearly 30 years to complete one lap. You'd expect the farther planet to take longer, but here's the surprising part: the relationship isn't just "farther = slower." It's much more precise, and it reveals a deep truth about gravity itself.
The Intuition
Think of a planet as a runner on a circular track. The farther out the track, the longer the lap — that's obvious. But Kepler noticed something subtler: if you double the distance from the Sun, the orbital period doesn't just double. It increases by a factor of about 2.8 (which is 8). Triple the distance, and the period grows by about 5.2 (which is 27).
There's a pattern here. The period seems to grow as the 3/2 power of the distance. Why? Because gravity weakens with distance, so a farther planet feels a weaker pull and moves more slowly — not just because the track is longer, but because it's moving slower along that track.
The Precise Statement
T2∝a3
The square of the orbital period T is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis a of the orbit.
For planets orbiting the Sun, if you measure T in Earth years and a in astronomical units (AU, where 1 AU = Earth's average distance from the Sun), the constant of proportionality is exactly 1:
T2=a3
So for Earth: T=1 year, a=1 AU, and 12=13 — it checks out.
For Mars: a≈1.52 AU, so T2=(1.52)3≈3.51, giving T≈1.87 years. That's about 687 days — exactly right.
This law applies to any body orbiting a much more massive central body: moons around planets, satellites around Earth, binary stars around each other. The constant of proportionality changes depending on the mass of the central body.
Why It Works (The Physics)
Newton later showed that Kepler's Third Law is a direct consequence of his law of gravitation. For a circular orbit (a good approximation for most planets), the centripetal force needed to keep the planet in orbit is provided by gravity:
r2GMm=rmv2
Here M is the Sun's mass, m the planet's mass, r the orbital radius, and v the orbital speed. The speed is related to the period by v=2πr/T. Substituting and simplifying:
r2GM=T24π2r
Rearranging:
T2=GM4π2r3
The quantity 4π2/(GM) is a constant for all planets orbiting the Sun. So T2∝r3 — exactly Kepler's law.
The constant 4π2/(GM) depends only on the mass of the central body. This means: if you know the period and distance of any moon or planet, you can calculate the mass of the body it orbits. This is how astronomers "weigh" stars, black holes, and galaxies.
A Common Mistake …
Kepler's third law (force balance) gives the mass of Mars from Phobos's orbit, and the ratio of orbital radii gives the length of the Martian year.
(i) MMars=GT24π2r3 with T=27,540 s and r=9.4×106 m gives MMars≈6.48×1023 kg. …
Using the force-balance (Kepler's third law) relation between orbital radius, period, and central mass, Phobos's orbit gives a mass of Mars of about 6.48×1023 kg. Comparing Mars's and Earth's orbital radii via Kepler's third law for the Sun's system gives a Martian year of about 684 days.
Part (i): Mass of Mars from Phobos's orbit
For a moon in a circular orbit, gravity supplies the centripetal force:
r2GMMarsm=mω2r=mT24π2r
Solving for the mass of Mars:
MMars=GT24π2r3
Convert the given data to SI units: T=7 h 39 min=7×3600+39×60=27,540 s, and r=9.4×103 km=9.4×106 m.
Compute r3=(9.4×106)3≈8.306×1020 m3, and T2=(27,540)2≈7.585×108 s2. Then
MMars=(6.67×10−11)×7.585×1084π2×8.306×1020=5.06×10−23.279×1022≈6.48×1023 kg
Part (ii): Length of the Martian year
Both Earth and Mars orbit the Sun, so Kepler's third law applies to compare them directly:
TEarth2TMars2=(aEarthaMars)3
Given aMars=1.52aEarth: …
Step 1 (part i): Convert Phobos's period to seconds: T=7 h 39 min=7(3600)+39(60)=27,540 s, and its orbital radius r=9.4×106 m.
Step 2: Since Mars's gravity supplies the centripetal force for Phobos's orbit, Kepler's third law in Newtonian form gives MMars=GT24π2r3.
Step 3: Substitute the numbers to get MMars≈6.48×1023 kg. …
- CBSE 2024Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.The orbital radius of any satellite of the earth is four times the orbital radius of a geo-stationary satellite. Then the time period of revolution of that satellite of the earth will be equal to (A) 8 days (B) 4 days (C) 16 days (D) 24 hours
›Reveal solutionSolution
Orbital radius 4× geostationary radius ⇒ period = 8× geostationary period = 8 days.
Kepler's third law: T2∝r3, so T∝r3/2.
…
- CBSE 2024Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.According to Kepler's law of period (T) :(a) T α R²(b) T α R³(c) T α R¹ᐟ²(d) T α R³ᐟ²
›Reveal solutionSolution
Kepler's third law: the square of the orbital period is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis, so T ∝ R³ᐟ².
Kepler's law of periods (third law) states that for planets orbiting the sun (or, more generally, any satellite in a near-circular orbit):
T2∝R3
Taking the square root of both sides:
T∝R3/2
…
- CBSE 2024Set ANNUAL1 markQ.State Kepler's law of periods.
›Reveal solutionSolution
Kepler's third law relates the orbital period of a planet to the size of its orbit: T2∝a3.
Kepler's law of periods (Kepler's third law) states that the square of the time period of revolution of a planet around the Sun is directly proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its elliptical orbit:
T2∝a3
…
- CBSE 2023Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.The period of moon's rotation around the earth is nearly 29 days. If moon's mass were 2 fold its present value, and all other things remain unchanged, the period of Moon's rotation would be nearly(1) 29 sqrt(2) days(2) 29 / sqrt(2) days(3) 29 x 2 days(4) 29 days
›Reveal solutionSolution
In the two-body approximation where the central body's mass (Earth) dominates, the orbiting body's own mass drops out of the period formula entirely - so changing the Moon's mass doesn't change its orbital period.
For a body of mass m orbiting a much more massive central body of mass M (here, Moon orbiting Earth), equating gravitational force to the required centripetal force gives:
GMm/r^2 = m (4 pi^2 / T^2) r
Notice the orbiting body's mass m appears on BOTH sides and cancels out completely:
GM/r^2 = 4 pi^2 r / T^2
T^2 = 4 pi^2 r^3 / (GM)
…
- CBSE 2023Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Kepler's third law states that the rotation period of planet around the sun is:(a) T^2 ∝ r^3(b) T ∝ r^3(c) T ∝ r^(3/4)(d) T ∝ r
›Reveal solutionSolution
Kepler's third law: T^2 ∝ r^3.
Kepler's law of periods states that the square of the orbital period T of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis (mean orbital radi …
- CBSE 2020Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Kepler's third law is also known as:(a) Law of orbits(b) Law of areas(c) Law of periods(d) None of these
›Reveal solutionSolution
Kepler's three laws each have a name: the first is the law of orbits, the second is the law of areas, and the third (T^2 proportional to a^3) is the law of periods.
Kepler's first law (law of orbits): planets move in elliptical orbits with the sun at one focus.
Kepler's second law (law of areas): the radius vector from sun to planet sweeps equal areas in equal time intervals. …
- CBSE 2019Set ANNUAL1 markQ.What is the mathematical form of Kepler's third law?
›Reveal solutionSolution
Kepler's third law states that the square of a planet's orbital period is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis (mean orbital radius) of its orbit.
Kepler's third law, also called the Law of Periods, states: the square of the time period of revolution of a planet around the Sun is directly proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its elliptical orbit.
Mathematically:
T2∝r3⇒r3T2=constant (same for all planets orbiting the Sun)
…
- CBSE 2019Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.The time period of an earth satellite in circular orbit is independent of(a) the mass of the satellite(b) radius of its orbit.(c) both the mass of satellite and radius of the orbit.(d) neither the mass of satellite nor the radius of the orbit.
›Reveal solutionSolution
Setting gravitational force equal to centripetal force for an orbiting satellite, the satellite's mass cancels out algebraically, so the orbital time period depends only on orbital radius and the mass of the central body (planet), never on the satellite's own mass.
For a satellite of mass m orbiting a planet of mass M in a circular orbit of radius r, gravity supplies the centripetal force:
GMm/r^2 = m v^2/r = m (4 pi^2 r / T^2)
The satellite's mass m appears on both sides and cancels:
GM/r^2 = 4 pi^2 r / T^2 …
- CBSE 2018Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Kepler third law related to the planetary motion is:(a) T ∝ r(b) T ∝ r²(c) T ∝ r³(d) T ∝ r^(3/2)
›Reveal solutionSolution
Kepler's third law: T² ∝ r³, which on taking a square root becomes T ∝ r^{3/2}.
Kepler's third law of planetary motion states that the square of the time period T of a planet's revolution around the Sun is directly proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis (mean orbital radius) r of its orbit:
T2∝r3
Taking the square root of both sides:
T∝r3/2
…
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