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Q.A planet is revolving round the sun as shown in figure. At which point the velocity of the planet is maximum ?

An elliptical planetary orbit with the Sun (drawn with rays) positioned off-centre, closer to the left side, inside the ellipse. Four — Class 12 Physics question
Figure
Haryana BsehBoard of School Education Haryana (Senior Secondary Part-I / Class 11) 2020Subjective· 1mImportance★★★★★
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Kepler's law of areas means a planet speeds up near the Sun and slows down far from it; velocity is maximum at the point of closest approach — here, point B.

Step 1 — Kepler's second law.

The line joining the Sun and a planet sweeps out equal areas in equal intervals of time: dAdt=constant\frac{dA}{dt} = \text{constant}. This is a consequence of conservation of angular momentum about the Sun, since no external torque acts on the Sun-planet system (gravity is a central force).

Step 2 — Relating area-sweep rate to speed.

For a given small time interval, the swept area is (approximately) 12rv dt\tfrac{1}{2} r v \,dt, where rr is the Sun-planet distance and vv is the planet's speed perpendicular to rr. Since dAdt\frac{dA}{dt} is constant, rvr v must be constant along the orbit — so where rr is small, vv must be large, and vice versa.

Step 3 — Apply to the figure. …

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