Copernican Revolution

J.T.II Olivar Faculty of Arts and Letters University of Santo Tomas 1st Semester AY 2011-2012

Outline of the Lecture

The

Geocentric Universe The Heliocentric Model of the Solar System The Laws of Planetary Motion

The Geocentric Universe

To

the Greeks, the universe was basically the solar system.

The Sun, Earth, Moon and the planets known at that time

The

Greeks did not consider the Sun, the Moon, and the planets to be part of the celestial sphere.

 Planets

do not behave in as regular and predictable a fashion as the Sun, Moon, and stars. Unlike the Sun and the Moon, the planets seem to wander around the celestial sphere.
Greek word planetes, meaning wanderer

 Planets

never stray far from the plane of the ecliptic and generally traverse the celestial sphere from west to east, as the Sun does.
They seem to speed up and slow down during their journeys, and at times they even appear to loop back and forth relative to the stars

Direct or Prograde, and Retrograde

Motion

in the eastward sense is referred to as direct, or prograde motion. The backward (westward) loops are known as retrograde.

 The

earliest model of the solar system followed the teachings of the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
Geocentric in nature, meaning that Earth lay at the center of the universe and that all other bodies moved around it.

 In this model, each planet was taken to move uniformly around a small circle, called an epicycle, whose center moved uniformly around the Earth on a second larger circle, known as the deferent.

Epicycle and Deferent

 The

full Ptolemaic model required a series of no fewer than 80 distinct circles. Syntaxis or Almagest provided the intellectual framework for all discussion of the universe for well over a thousand years.
The geocentric model went largely unchallenged until the sixteenth century A.D.

The Heliocentric Model of the Solar System

Nicholas

Copernicus rediscovered Aristarchuss heliocentric (Sun-centered) model.

Copernicus asserted that Earth spins on its axis and, like other planets, orbits the Sun Only the Moon orbits Earth

Copernican Revolution
The

critical realization that Earth is not at the center of the universe is now known as the Copernican revolution.

The Foundations of the Copernican Revolution

The

following seven points are essentially Copernicuss own words.

1. The celestial spheres do not have just one common center. 2. The center of Earth is not the center of the universe but is instead only the center of gravity and of the lunar orbit. 3. All the spheres revolve around the Sun.

4. The ratio of Earths distance from the Sun to the height of the firmament is so much smaller than the ratio of Earths radius to the distance to the Sun that the distance to the Sun is imperceptible when compared with the height of the firmament.

5. The motions appearing in the firmament are not its own motions but those of Earth. Earth performs a daily rotation around its fixed poles while the firmament remains immobile as the highest heavens.

6. The motions of the Sun are not its motion but the motion of Earth. 7. What appears to us as retrograde and forward motion of the planets is not their own but that of Earth.

 Copernicuss

writings on the heliocentric universe were placed on the Index of Prohibited Books in 1616.
73 years after they were first published Remained there until the end of the eighteenth century

The Laws of Planetary Motion

Keplers

simple laws:

1. The orbital paths of the planets are elliptical (not circular), with the Sun at one focus.
An ellipse is a flattened circle.

2. An imaginary line connecting the Sun to any planet sweeps out equal areas of the ellipse in equal intervals of time.

3. The square of a planets orbital period is proportional to the cube of its semi-major axis.

P2 (in Earth years) = a3 (in astronomical units)

Newtons Laws of Motion and Gravitation

In

1684, Newton had a discussion with Edmund Halley about the leading astronomical problem of the day.
Why do planets move according to Keplers laws?

Philosophiae

Naturalis Principia Mathematica (The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy)

Basis for what is known as Newtonian mechanics

 1st

Law

Every body continues in a state of rest or in a state of uniform motion in straight line unless it is compelled to change that state by a force acting on it.

 2nd

Law

When a force F acts on abody of mass m, it produces in it an acceleration a equal to the force divided by the mass. Thus, a=F/m, or F=ma.

 3rd

Law

To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction