Q.State Kepler's law of orbit and law of equal areas.
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →Kepler's first law fixes the shape/geometry of planetary orbits; his second law is a statement of conservation of angular momentum.
Law of orbits (Kepler's first law): Every planet revolves around the Sun in an elliptical orbit, with the Sun situated at one of the two foci of the ellipse (not at the centre). The degree of ellipticity varies from planet to planet, but the Sun always occupies a focus.
Law of equal areas (Kepler's second law): The line segment (radius vector) joining the Sun to a planet sweeps out equal areas in equal intervals of time, i.e. the areal velocity of the planet is constant throughout its orbit. As a consequence, the planet moves fastest when it is closest to the Sun (perihelion) and slowest when farthest (aphelion). This law is a direct consequence of the conservation of angular momentum, since the gravitational force on the planet acts along the radius vector (a central force), so it exerts zero torqu …
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