Angular Speed and Orbital Period
Hence the orbital period can be computed as:
Compare two proportional quantities, the free-fall time (time to fall to a point mass from rest)
- (17.7 % of the orbital period in a circular orbit)
and the time to fall to a point mass in a radial parabolic orbit
- (7.5 % of the orbital period in a circular orbit)
The fact that the formulas only differ by a constant factor is a priori clear from dimensional analysis.
Read more about this topic: Circular Orbit
Famous quotes containing the words speed and/or period:
“It was undoubtedly the feeling of exile—that sensation of a void within which never left us, that irrational longing to hark back to the past or else to speed up the march of time, and those keen shafts of memory that stung like fire.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“There is always a period when a man with a beard shaves it off. This period does not last. He returns headlong to his beard.”
—Jean Cocteau (1889–1963)