Compare the approaches taken by Kepler and Newton in developing their theories.

Question

Compare the approaches taken by Kepler and Newton in developing their theories. What is the difference between discover and derive? Note that in the process of developing their theories both of them broke new ground in methods of scientific inquiry. What elements of the scientific method were employed in developing these theories? Which of these two astronomers had the greatest impact on future scientific inquiry? Justify your answer. Give an example of how you might employ the two methods used by Kepler and Newton to solve an everyday problem at home or at work.

Explanation / Answer

Kepler's First Law: The orbit of a planet about the Sun is an ellipse with the Sun at one focus. Kepler's Second Law: A line joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal intervals of time. Kepler's Third Law: The squares of the sidereal periods of the planets are proportional to the cubes of their semimajor axes. Kepler's Laws are wonderful as a description of the motions of the planets. However, they provide no explanation of why the planets move in this way. Moreover, Kepler's Third Law only works for planets around the Sun and does not apply to the Moon's orbit around the Earth or the moons of Jupiter. Isaac Newton provided a more general explanation of the motions of the planets through the development of Newton's Laws of Motion and Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation. Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation By now you must be wondering: ``What is the Force that keeps the Earth going around the Sun?'' Newton's great discovery was the force of {sl gravity}, which is an attractive force that occurs between two masses. The Universal Law of Gravitation is usually stated as an equation: Fgravity = G M1 M2 / r2 where Fgravity is the attractive gravitational force between two objects of mass M1 and M2 separated by a distance r. The constant G in the equation is called the Universal Constant of Gravitation. The value of G is: G = 6.67 X 10-11 meters3 kilograms-1 seconds

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