DETERMINING THE SHAPE OF THE ORBIT OF MARS IN THE HIGH SCHOOL

Authors

  • Carlos Maximiliano Dutra
  • Andressa Rossini Goulart

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37156/RELEA/2014.18.011

Keywords:

Orbit, Planet, Mars, Kepler, Gravitation.

Abstract

In the present work, in order to supply the lacks of practical activities related to the content of Kepler's Laws in high school physics textbooks, we present a practical activity to determine the shape of the orbit of Mars. In this activity the student can experience the discovery the shape of the orbit of Mars in a way similar to that realized by Johannes Kepler combining the physical concepts with geometry. We applied the activity to eighteen high school teachers participating in a Postgraduate Course in Science Education. After two hours of work the group obtained the shape of the orbit of Mars and estimated its orbital parameters with a relative error less than 14%.

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Published

2014-12-15

How to Cite

Dutra, C. M., & Goulart, A. R. (2014). DETERMINING THE SHAPE OF THE ORBIT OF MARS IN THE HIGH SCHOOL. Latin-American Journal of Astronomy Education, (18), 11–25. https://doi.org/10.37156/RELEA/2014.18.011

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Section

Articles