A Course on

Classical
Mechanics
(Lecture 19)
Speaker
Burhan Zamir
Assistant Professor of Physics

1
 Elliptical Orbits (𝜺 < 𝟏), Kepler’s Law of Orbits
𝜶
= 𝟏 + 𝜺𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝜽 Change the variables
𝒓

Express in Cartesian 𝒙 = 𝒙 + 𝒙𝒐
coordinates:
Equation becomes:
𝒓= 𝒙 𝟐 + 𝒚𝟐
𝟐
𝒙 − 𝒙𝒐 𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐 + 𝟐𝜶𝜺 𝒙 − 𝒙𝒐 + 𝒚𝟐 = 𝜶𝟐
𝒙
𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝜽 =
𝒙 𝟐 + 𝒚𝟐 𝒙𝟐 𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐 + 𝟐𝜶𝜺 − 𝟐𝒙𝒐 𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐 𝒙 + 𝒚𝟐
= 𝜶𝟐 − 𝒙𝟐𝒐 𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐 + 𝟐𝜶𝜺𝒙𝒐
𝜶
𝒓
= 𝟏 + 𝜺𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝜽 Choose
𝜶𝜺
Becomes 𝒙𝒐 =
𝜶 𝒙 𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐
=𝟏+𝜺
𝒙 𝟐 + 𝒚𝟐 𝒙𝟐 + 𝒚𝟐 So that the coefficient of 𝒙 vanishes
Or 𝒙𝟐 𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐 + 𝒚𝟐
𝜶 − 𝜺𝒙 = 𝒙𝟐 + 𝒚𝟐 𝜶𝜺 𝟐 𝜶𝜺
𝟐 𝟐 + 𝟐𝜶𝜺
=𝜶 − 𝟏 − 𝜺
𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐 𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐
𝜶𝟐 + 𝜺𝟐 𝒙𝟐 − 𝟐𝜶𝜺𝒙 = 𝒙𝟐 + 𝒚𝟐

𝒙𝟐 𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐 + 𝟐𝜶𝜺𝒙 + 𝒚𝟐 = 𝜶𝟐
 𝟐 𝜺𝟐 𝟐 𝜺𝟐
𝜶 𝟐𝜶 For 𝜺 < 𝟏
𝒙𝟐 𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐 + 𝒚𝟐 = 𝜶𝟐 − +
𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐 𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐 𝒙 𝟐 𝒚𝟐
+ =𝟏
𝒂𝟐 𝒃𝟐
𝜶𝟐 𝜺𝟐 Compare it to get
= 𝜶𝟐 +
𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐
𝜺𝟐 Major axis: 𝒂=
𝜶
= 𝜶𝟐 𝟏+ 𝟏−𝜺𝟐
𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐
𝟏 𝜶
𝒙𝟐 𝟏− 𝜺𝟐 + 𝒚𝟐 = 𝜶𝟐 Minor axis: 𝒃=
𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐 𝟏−𝜺𝟐
𝟐
𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐 𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐
𝒙𝟐 + 𝒚𝟐 =𝟏 For 𝜺 = 𝟎 𝒂 = 𝒃,
𝜶𝟐 𝜶𝟐 we have a circle.

3
Semi major and minor axes
𝒃=𝒂 𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐
Taking equation of conic section
𝜶
= 𝟏 + 𝜺𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝜽 𝜶
𝒓 𝒃= 𝟐
𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐
𝜶 𝟏−𝜺
=𝒓 𝜶
𝟏 + 𝜺𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝜽 𝒃=
𝜶 𝜶 𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐
𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏 = 𝒓 𝜽 = 𝟎 = =
𝟏 + 𝜺𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝟎 𝟏 + 𝜺
Re-substitute
𝜶 𝜶
𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒙 =𝒓 𝜽=𝝅 = = 𝒍𝟐
𝟏 + 𝜺𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝝅 𝟏 − 𝜺 𝜶=
𝝁𝒌
𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒙 + 𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏 = 𝟐𝒂 𝟐𝑬𝒍𝟐
𝜺= 𝟏+
𝝁𝒌𝟐
𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒙 + 𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏
𝑴𝒂𝒋𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒙𝒊𝒔 = 𝒂 =
𝟐 We have:
𝒍𝟐 𝟏
𝒂=
𝟏 𝜶 𝜶 𝝁𝒌 𝟐𝑬𝒍𝟐
𝒂= + −
𝟐 𝟏+𝜺 𝟏−𝜺 𝝁𝒌𝟐
𝒌
𝜶 𝒂=
𝒂= 𝟐𝑬
𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐 Similarly 4
Minor axis: 𝒍
𝒃𝟐 = 𝒂𝟐 − 𝒂𝟐 𝜺𝟐 = 𝒂𝟐 𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐 𝒃=
𝟐𝝁 𝑬
Periods of Elliptical Orbits: Kepler’s Law of Periods
By Kepler’s 2nd law:
𝒅𝑨 𝟏 𝒍
= 𝟐𝝁
𝒅𝒕 𝟐 𝝁 𝑻= 𝝅𝒂 𝒂 𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐
𝒍
Since
𝟐𝝁 𝜶
𝒅𝑨 = 𝒅𝒕 𝒂=
𝒍 𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐
𝟐𝝁 𝜶 𝒍
𝟏
𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒅 = 𝑻 = 𝑨 𝟏 − 𝜺𝟐 = =
𝒍 𝒂 𝝁𝒌 𝒂
Here 𝑨 is the area of the ellipse So that
𝟐𝝁 𝒍
𝑻= 𝝅𝒂𝟑 𝟐
𝑨 = 𝝅𝒂𝒃 𝒍 𝝁𝒌

𝟐𝝁 𝟒𝝁𝟐 𝟐
𝝅 𝟑
𝑻= 𝝅𝒂𝒃 𝟐
𝑻 = 𝒂
𝒍 𝝁𝒌
𝟐𝝁
𝟒𝝅
𝟐𝝁 𝒌 𝒍 𝑻𝟐 = 𝒂𝟑
𝑻= 𝝅 𝒌
𝒍 𝟐𝑬 𝟐𝝁 𝑬
𝝁 𝟏 𝑻𝟐 ∝ 𝒂𝟑 5
𝑻 = 𝝅𝒌
𝟐 𝑬𝟑 𝟐
But
𝟐𝝁
𝑻 = 𝒍 𝝅𝒂𝒃 Which is Kepler’s 3rd law.
Open Orbits:
For gravitational potential
𝒌
𝑽 𝒓 =−
𝒓
𝒌 𝟏 𝒍𝟐
𝑽𝒆𝒇𝒇 =− +
𝒓 𝟐 𝝁𝒓𝟐

The minimum of effective potential is at

𝝏𝑽𝒆𝒇𝒇 𝒌 𝒍𝟐
= 𝟐− 𝟑=𝟎
𝝏𝒓 𝒓 𝝁𝒓
𝒍𝟐
𝒓=
𝝁𝒌

𝒌𝟐 𝝁 𝟏 𝒍𝟐 𝝁𝟐 𝒌𝟐
𝑽𝒎𝒊𝒏
𝒆𝒇𝒇 =− 𝟐 +
𝒍 𝟐 𝝁 𝒍𝟒

𝒌𝟐 𝝁
𝑽𝒎𝒊𝒏
=− 𝟐
𝒆𝒇𝒇
𝟐𝒍 6
The bound state in the case-2 can be determined whether the orbit is
closed or open as follows:
We know that
𝒍 𝒅𝒓
𝒅𝜽 = ±
𝟐 𝟏 𝒍𝟐
𝝁𝒓𝟐 𝝁 𝑬 − 𝑽 − 𝟐 𝝁𝒓𝟐

Integrate from 𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏 to 𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒙 and then back from 𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒙 to 𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏 . The
angular change in the radius vector will be:
𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒙
𝒍 𝒅𝒓
∆𝜽 = 𝟐
𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏 𝟐 𝟏 𝒍𝟐
𝝁𝒓𝟐 𝝁 𝑬 − 𝑽 − 𝟐 𝝁𝒓𝟐

If ∆𝜽 is a rational fraction of 𝟐𝝅
𝒂
i.e. ∆𝜽 = 𝟐𝝅 𝒂 ,𝒃 ∈ 𝒁
𝒃

The orbit will be closed.

After ‘b’ periods of motion from 𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏 to 𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒙 and then back from 𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒙
to 𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏 , the particle will have made ‘a’ revolutions about the origin. 7
If ∆𝜽 is not a rational fraction of 𝟐𝝅 , the path will be a rosette.