Orbital Definition and 820 Threads

So I'm really interested in orbital mechanics. I'm only 16 so my knowledge of physics is restricted to an intermediate level. If there is a planet with large mass and a planet with small mass they are attracted to each other... So imagine a system where the large mass is fixed and the small...

What are the physical significances of the eccentricity and of the semi-latus rectum of the orbital ellipse?

So if an object has a velocity expressed by the vector <-3,0> and is being accelerated toward another object with the vector <-1,-2>... After one second, the object will have moved from (0,0) to (-4,-2) - calculated by adding the vectors.. My question is after the first second does the object...

Hi everyone! I'm really sorry if I'm using the wrong forum. It's my first time at PF. I'm pretty new to physics, as I began studying it just two years ago, but I'm really interested in the subject of astrophysics so I bought myself and started reading 'Introduction to rocket science and...

Bill_K submitted a new PF Insights post Orbital Precession in the Schwarzschild and Kerr Metrics Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

An nucleus of an atom is really surrounded by circular orbits or not. And why there is a pattern that orbit k can contain only two electrons, orbit l can contain only 8 electrons and so on. But at some places I observe that the nucleus of an atom is surrounded by cloud like structure containing...

Hello. Here, I'm asking why total orbital quantum number l and total magnetic quantum number m are zero for closed subshell in atom. Let me review the addition of angular momentum first: Each electron has its own orbital quantum number li and magnetic quantum number mi. Then for two electrons...

It seems that the orbital inclination oscillations of all the planets in our solar system are not well published. I've done some simulation work on this but can't find many publications to check my findings against.

Hi PhysicsForums! I'm a game developer planning a project involving simplified, idealized orbital mechanics. I made this reddit post which did not generate the sort of response I was hoping for, but it summarizes my issue in greater detail for anyone curious...

I often stumbled across the variables for angular momentum L and axial angular momentum Lz, which would be no problem if working in cartesian coordinates, then it would be Lz = px y - py x. Unfortunately I have no idea what to make of an Lz in spherical coordinates: For example, in equations of...

Let us assume that we have an electron belonging to the px orbital. In that case what would be the probability of finding it on the z axis? Would it be zero? My teacher says so, but I think that because we can't predict the boundary where there is 100% possibility of finding an electron, we...

Ok, so I know I'm missing something here. But, you know how pool balls that rotate opposite direction increase the speed of one of them through kinetic transfer? Why don't we build a launch platform based on this approach and use the orbital spin of the Sun, Jupiter, and Saturn (gaining speed...

Homework Statement Say I have some planet in a circular orbit around a star, and I give it a small radial push (directly toward or directly away from the star). How would I describe the new orbit? I.e. how would I determine the equations of motion? h Homework Equations Kepler orbital radius...

Hey there, newbie here. I've got some questions regarding space debris which I could not find answers on my own (probably because I'm really bad at it :( ). So here they are: -Are space debris charged? Sort of thinking of photoelectric effect and solar winds, but last one doesn't seem quite...

I'm interested how was measured the famous Mercury's precession: 43'' / cy. How it has been measured? where is the angle 43'' - in this image: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Astrodynamics/Classical_Orbit_Elements The preccesion is about the periapse, so it's defined wrt the node: therefore...

Hi! Imagine a planet is alone in a two dimensional universe. It has a mass mp. Suddenly, the planet's moon appears out of nowhere. It appears with a distance r from the planet, has a mass mm and velocities vx in the x-direction and vy in the y-direction. The distances rx and ry are also known...

Hi, so whilst doing some reading I came across a section that said the most efficient way to increase your orbital energy when in an elliptical orbit is to fire your 'boosters' at perigee. I understand that the satellite is moving faster, but why should this mean that more energy is imparted to...

Can anyone explain what is tight binding method . I don't understand much .for solids mostly for graphene with one atom per site

The volumetric probability density function for the 1s orbital of the hydrogen atom has 1 peak, and it occurs at the Bohr radius. http://img1.mnimgs.com/img/shared/content_ck_images/images/probability%20density.png For the 2s orbital, it has 2 peaks, neither of which coincides with an...

With the quantum numbers l=1, n=2 and m=-1 how do I calculate the total energy E, L2 (the square of the orbital momentum) and Lz (the z-component of the orbital angular momentum. I've been trying for two hours and am getting no were. Please help

I am trying to determine the orbital characteristics of KELT-4Ab, given that KELT4Ab orbits its star every 2.9895936 ± 0.0000048 days, and assuming it has an extremely small orbital eccentricity (< 0.01). I come up with a semi-major axis of 6,460,182 km (0.04318 AU), which gives it an orbital...

One of the best explanations of orbital angular momentum for the electron comes from Dirac himself. At around 39:30 of this youtube video (you will need headphones, but it is well worth it), Dirac talks about the non-commutation of operators, how quantum mechanics is more general then classical...

The condition for a stable orbit is given by (3.42), where ##V'## is the fictitious potential energy (potential energy of the corresponding fictitious one-dimensional problem) and ##r_0## is the radius of the circular orbit. The result ##n>-3## is obtained by using the convention that positive...

Homework Statement we know the mass of the moon, Mm, and the Earth's, Me, and also the initial distance between their centers as the moon orbits the earth, Rem. Now if the earth’s angular velocity about its own axis is slowing down from a initial given angular velocity, ωi to a final angular...

In a radial node of an orbital, say of 3px orbital, is the probablity for finding the 3px electron there is 0 but an electron of another orbital, say 2px, can be found there, OR the chance of finding electron of any orbital in a node of a certain orbital is 0?

I was going to try and do an animation of stars orbiting Sagittarius A* but can't seem to find any useful data for it. The Wikipedia page has some data https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittarius_A* and was trying to reconcile this with https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_elements since I...

This arises in Joos's discussion of planetary motion, at the following URL: https://books.google.com/books?id=wFl2MkpcY6kC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA91#v=onepage&q&f=false I've modified the notation in obvious ways. He asserts that the following expression is "the familiar arc-cosine form": $$-\int...

Is there an accurate method in computing the 'sound' frquency of a planet? For example, taking the orbital path of say Jupiter for one year, and computing it into an audible frequency? I'm looking for ways to compute this, but I am at a loss to where the best starting point is. Could Bohr's or...

Recently I've been studying Angular Momentum in Quantum Mechanics and I have a doubt about the eigenstates of orbital angular momentum in the position representation and the relation to the spherical harmonics. First of all, we consider the angular momentum operators L^2 and L_z. We know that...

Guys I studied Molecular orbital theory based on wave mechanics in lower level as i don't know what is wave mechanics so i saw molecular orbital diagram of boron di atomic molecule in which there are two pi molecular orbitals so my first question was that there must be first a sigma molecular...

Good morning, I was making some investigation regarding the calculation of mean orbital elements - not osculating. Is this done simply by fitting (with the best equation) several osculating elements across time, or is there a mathematical approach already settled? Cheers,

Okay guys Felt a need to post this since it's been confusing me for a long time Say,for example,we have an atom with its electron occupying the 3s orbital Now let's say we energise the atom and constantly supply it energy that the electron which receives the energy(or a part of it)gets excited...

what is wave and how electrons show wave phenomenon within an atom. like in Px or Py or Pz orbital how electrons interchanged from one dumble to another?

orbital movement occupy more space than spin movement. If an object are running in both orbit and spin, how to stop orbit and transfer orbit energy to spin energy? Of course the total angular momentum conserves. I know new optical technology can convert spin energy into orbital energy, but it...

Hi folks, i have to calculate the angular Spin and Parity JP of 17O as a result of the shooting of 16O with Deuterons. So the reaction equation should be: 16O + ²H -> 17O + 1H The only further Information given is that the captured neutron has positive parity and an orbital angular momentum...

Hi I'm really at a loss: How should this formula be interpreted? Is e simply dependent on the specific mechanical energy of, say, a planet in orbit around the Sun as well as its angular momentum?

I wish to solve the inverse geodesic problem numerically using http://geographiclib.sourceforge.net/html/classGeographicLib_1_1Geodesic.html#a455300c36e6caa70968115416e1573a4, and to finish off I need to specify the "equatorial radius". I am not too familiar with this, and do not see immediately...

I've written a java program to model the solar system. All my planets move in very well defined, stable orbits. The sun, on the other hand, is doing some very weird stuff. I've attached a plot of its path, a very zoomed in and a very zoomed out one. It isn't spiralling gradually inwards or...

Hi All, I know that Rosetta was orbiting around 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. This asteroid has extremely low gravitational force acting on Rosetta. I believe that if the celestial body is heavy (mass), then there would be greater gravitational pull on the satellite and the orbital speed of it's...

1. My calculus 2 math teacher has us doing a project, involving calculus, on any topic we choose. I chose the topic of calculating work, as in Force x Distance. Specifically calculating work done by lifting a mass into orbit, or to escape velocity. A method is used in my textbook for calculating...

Homework Statement [/B] Taken straight out of Szabo and Ostlund's "Quantum Chemistry" problem 2.1: Given a set of K orthonormal spatial functions, \{\psi_{i}^{\alpha}(\mathbf{r})\}, and another set of K orthonormal functions, \{\psi_{i}^{\beta}(\mathbf{r})\}, such that the first set is not...

Starting with the orbital angular momentum of the ith element of mass, $ \vec{L}_I = \vec{r}_I \times \vec{p}_I = m_i \vec{r}_i \times \left( \omega \times \vec{r}_i\right) $, derive the inertia matrix such that $\vec{L} =I\omega, |\vec{L} \rangle = I |\vec{\omega} \rangle $ I used a X b X c...

Guys I have a doubt When we calculate the trial function We do it for the wave function of the orbitals Right in order to get the total orbital energy (Which included the energy of the electron) and that of the orbital Well my question Is does the orbital possess Some energy even if the electron...

Homework Statement Homework Equations (In picture)[/B]The Attempt at a Solution (In picture) [/B]

Homework Statement Calculate orbital radius of planet X using the given variables of its star: T=500 K, radius R=0.1 x Sun's radius, mass M=0.5 x Sun's mass and also its receives the same flux as the Earth receives from the Sun. I forgot to mention also that the orbit is circular, so the...

Hello every one. It's obvious that all of the major planetary objects in our solar system orbit the sun in roughly the same plane. My question is, is our solar system in a similar plane as it orbits the center of the Milky Way? If so, do most star systems share the same plane? This came to mind...

Homework Statement Stellar mass 3.8 x 10^30 kg Star's orbital speed: 90 m/s Planet's orbital speed: 95,000 m/s Whats the mass of the planet in kilograms [/B]Homework EquationsThe Attempt at a Solution

Recently, I read two chapters from March's advanced organic chemistry. I came across gauche effect and SN2 reactions. In both phenomena, ##\sigma-\sigma^*## orbital interactions is involved. In gauche effect present in 1,2-diflouroethane, the C-F bonding orbital becomes an antibonding orbital so...

I recently came across a Wikipedia article about somebody's (?) law regarding limits on a moon's orbital radius because the sun's gravitational influence is greater than the planet's at some distance from the planet. As I recall, the law had two different names associated with it. In addition to...

Hi, I need any good books or articles about the mathematical analysis and modelling of orbital angular momentum Regards