Calculus, Planets, and General Relativity

Author(s): Frank Morgan

Reviewed work(s):
Source: SIAM Review, Vol. 34, No. 2 (Jun., 1992), pp. 295-299
Published by: Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
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SIAM REVIEW (?) 1992 SocietyforIndustrialand AppliedMathematics
Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 295-299,June1992 004

CLASSROOM NOTES
EDITED BY MURRAYS. KLAMKIN
Thissection
contains
brief
noteswhich areessentially
self-contained
applications
ofmathematicsthatcan
be usedintheclassroom.
Newapplications arepreferred,
butexemplaryapplicationsnotwellknown orreadily
available
areaccepted.
Both"modem "and"classical"
applications
arewelcome, modem
especially applications
tocurrent
realworld
problems.
Notesshouldbesubmitted
toM. S. Klamkin,
Department ofMathematics,
UniversityofAlberta,
Edmonton,
Alberta,
CanadaT6G 2G1.

CALCULUS, PLANETS, AND GENERAL RELATIVITY*

FRANK MORGANt

Abstract.Inexplaining
themotions oftheplanets,
Newton inventedthecalculus,
JohnCouchAdamspre-
dictedNeptune,andEinsteindeveloped general
relativity.
(Thefullstory
nowincludes a surprise
appearance
byGalileo.)Thisarticle
includes
a verysimplified
explanation
ofgeneral andMercury's
relativity precession.

Keywords.calculus,
general
relativity,
planets,
precession,
Mercury,
John
CouchAdams,Einstein,
Galileo,
Kepler,Newton

AMS(MOS) subjectclassifications.
01A45-60,
83-03,83C

Thehistory ofhumanity is theintellectual

dramaofmankind findingitsplaceinthe
universe.In thishistorical
drama,calculushasplayeda central role.
PoringoverthetomesofdatathatlychoBrahe(1546-1601)hadcollectedovera
lifetime
ofplanetary observations, Johannes Kepler(1571-1630)noticedcertainpat-
terns.Figuring outhowtheorbitswouldlookfromabove,Keplerdeducedthatthe
planetsweremoving inellipses.ThenIsaac Newton(1642-1727)invented thecalculus
andrelatedKepler'sLawstohisownF = ma andlawofgravitation.
Whenminorcorrections weremadefortheeffects oftheplanetsoneachother, the
theory atfirstseemedtoworkperfectly. Butby1820theaccumulated errorinUranus's
positionhad reachedabouta fulldegree.Around1844,JohnCouchAdams,a senior
atSt.John'sCollege,Cambridge, pursuedinhisthesisthehypothesis thattheerrorwas
due to an eighth,undiscovered planet.He predicted thepositionoftheplanetwe now
callNeptune(as didLeverrier).
The searchforNeptunewasdifficult. Fortunately,starchartswerebeingprepared
at theBerlinObservatory, whereNeptunewasdiscovered byGallein 1846.Ironically,
Neptunehadbeenobserved fiftyyearsbeforebyLalandeinParis,buthehadconcluded
thattheunexpected imagewaserroneous.
Thereis stillmoreto thestory.Nowadayscomputers oftensitidle at night.In
1979SteveAlbersputthemtoworkandcomputed all 21 occultations
ofoneplanetby
anotherfrom1557-2230.He noticedthatJupiter occultedNeptuneduringthetime
ofGalileo'sobservations in 1612-1613.Sureenough,a sketchwas foundin Galileo's
notebookshowing Neptune, witha notation aboutitshavingseemedto move.It may
justhavebeenthebad weatherofthatperiodwhichprevented Galileofrompursuing
thequestionanddiscovering theplanetNeptunehimself.
*Received
bytheeditors
August23,1991;acceptedforpublication
October5,1991.Thisworkispartially
supported
bya grant
fromtheNationalScienceFoundation.
tDepartmentofMathematics,
Williams College,Williamstown,
Massachusetts01267.

295

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296 CLASSROOMNOTE

Bytheturnofthelastcentury thedataon theslowrotation

or precession
ofthe
planetary
orbitslookedlikethis:
Planet Predicted
precession Observed
Saturn 46'/century check
Jupiter 432"/century check
Mercury 532"/century 575"/century
The errorin Mercury's orbit,although a mere43 secondsofarc(aboutone hun-
dredthof a degree)percentury, was largerthancouldbe attributed to observational
error.Itwastobe explained byEinstein'stheoryofgeneralrelativity.
Generalrelativity seemstohavebecomethescientific standard ofourage,thegreat
intellectual achievement againstwhichall othergeniusmustbe measured.I hopethat
thefollowing discussionwillhelpinunderstanding something ofgeneralrelativity
and
impressing yourstudents.
Nowadays moststudents seemtotakespecialrelativity rathercasually.It buildson
theprinciple thatobjectsinfreespacemoveinstraight linesatconstant inother
velocity,
words, instraight linesinfour-dimensional space-time.Theprinciple ofspecialrelativity
saysthatthelawsofphysics lookthesameinall coordinate systems moving atconstant
velocity,i.e.,in all nonacceleratingcoordinatesystems.Of course,things lookfunny
in twisted, accelerating coordinatesystems.In an accelerating car,whichis changing
speedor direction, combsleap fromthedashboard andwe feelthrown sideto sideby
mysterious forces.
Generalrelativity tacklesgravity.Atbase,thetheory is a singlesimpleidea,called
thePrinciple ofEquivalence.Ifyoufeelyourself pressedagainstthefloorofa closed
elevator,youdo notknowwhether itisbecausetheelevator issittingona largeplanetor
because theelevatoris acceleratingupward.Locally,gravity
is equivalenttoacceleration,
a twistedcoordinatesystemin space-time.In such a coordinatesystem,distanceis no
longergivenbythefamiliar formula ds2 = dx2+ dy2,butbya moregeneralformula or
metric.
Metrics.Thestandard
distance
ormetric
on theplaneR2 inR3 isgivenby
ds2 = dx2 + dy2

In space-time,
ittakestheform
ds2 =-(dx2 + dy2)+ c2dt2

wherec is thespeedoflight.For a particlemovingat thespeedoflight,thespatial

distancedx2+ dy2wouldequalc2dt2,andds2 = 0 (no aging).Belowthespeedoflight,
dx2 + dy2< c2dt2,andds2 ispositive.
In polarcoordinates,
thismetricbecomes
ds2 = -dr2 _ r2d02 + c2dt2.

Ifweadd a pointmass(thesun)attheorigin,
theright
metric
turnsouttobe
(1) ds2 = -(1 - 2GMc-2r-1)-ldr2 - r2d02 + (1 - 2GMc-2r-1)c2dt2,

whereM is thesun'smassand G is thegravitational

constant.Thisis thefamousso-
Metric."Since2GMc-2 z 3 kilometers,
called"Schwarzschild forr largethenewfactor

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 CLASSROOMNOTE 297

(1 - 2GMc-2r-1) is closetoone,andtheSchwarzschild metric is closetothestandard

metric.Butforr smaller(nearerthesun),thenewfactorslightly distortsthemetric.
Howwillthisdistortion affect
Mercury's
orbit?
Planetsfollow"straight
lines"orgeodesics(theanaloguesofshortest paths)inthis
metric,fromsomeinitialpoint(ri,01,t1) inspace-timeto somelaterpoint(r2,02, t2)
inspace-time.Weknowthattheseorbitsare almostperfect ellipsesinspace. See Fig.
1. Wewillsee thatoverlongtimeperiodstheellipticalorbitshapewillrotateslowly or
"precess."

FIG. 1. Planets
follow
geodesics
intheSchwarzschild which
metric, arealmost
perfect
ellipses.

Thetotalspace-time
distance
computed
intheSchwarzschild
metric
is

(2) 8= Jlds = JF(r, 0,t)1/2ds,

whereby(1),

(3) 1 = F(r, 0, t) = -(1- 2GMc-2r-1)-1 dr2 _2_d2 + (1-2GMc-2rr-1c2 dt2

ds2 d s 2 ' ds2~
Considerchanging justthespeedan infinitesimalamount,perhapsmoving faster
atthe
beginning andslowerneartheend,to stillarriveat thesamepoint(r2, 02, t2) inspace-
time,i.e.,to stillarriveat thesamedestination at thesametime.Thent as a function
t(s) ofs is replacedbyt(s) + Et(s),whereEt(s)denotestheinfinitesimal changeinthe
function t(s). (In thecalculusofvariations,6 isusedfortheinfinitesimal
change6f ina
function f,justas insingle-variablecalculusd is usedfortheinfinitesimal
changedxin
a variablex.) Sincethepathis a geodesic,thecorresponding change6s in
infinitesimal
thetotalspace-time distancetraveled change6s by
is zero. Computethisinfinitesimal
calculus:

(4) 0 = F-6=-
Es =|
I 2GMc2r-1c2 dt /6 dt
ds 6\ds/
s

Noticehowdifferentiation
undertheintegral signrepeatedly
usedthechainrule.The
infinitesimal
changeb(F1/2) is 1F-1/26F. Sincethefunctionsr(s) and0(s) are held
constant(onlyt(s) is changing),6F = (1 - 2GMc-2r-1 )c2 . 2(dt/ds) *b(dt/ds).
byparts,fu dv= uv]-
Integration fv du,with
u -F 1/2(1 -2GMc2r-1 )c2 2 (dt) = (1 - 2GMc-2r)c2 (dt)

(since F = 1), and

dv = 6-ds =6dt, v = Et
ds

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298 CLASSROOMNOTE

yields

0= 0- ((1 - 2GMcG2r ) c2 ) 6tds.

(Thefirst
termiszerobecauseEtmustbe zeroatthefixedendpoints.)
Sincethisintegral
vanishes
foranyEt,therestoftheintegrandmustbe zero,andhence

(1- 2GMc-2r-1) dt = Cl

is constant.
Similarly, changes60 in0(s) yields
considering

r2dO
-= C2
ds
Withthesetwoformulasfordt/dsandd0/ds,equation(1) canbe solvedfordO/dr.With
thehelpful u = 1/r,theanswerbecomes
substitution
d -u (1 - 2GMc-2(u + u1 + u2))-1/2
du A(lu(-2
l+GMc-2(u+ui +U2)
- -
O(u u)(u U2)

whereu1 andU2arenewconstants
(see Fig.2).

'V~~~~U

ul, U2, and1depend

FIG.2. Theconstants ontheshapeoftheelliptical
orbit.

ordertheorbitis an ellipse. Integrate

Nowrecallthatto first dO/duaroundthe
u =
ellipse ul cos2o?u2 sin2oe(O< ca< to
ir) get
(5) AS 2ir+ 37rGMc-2(ui + U2) = 2ir+ 67rGM/lc2

perrevolution,where1is the"semilatus rectum" oftheellipseofFig.2, 1 = 2/(ul +

u2). In one revolution, a bitmorethan2ir,andtheellipsehasindeed
0 hasincreased
precessed!Moreover, therateofprecession is givenin termsof a fewbigconstants.
Since1 is ratherlarge,thisprecession
willbe quitesmall.To computetheamountof
precession,usethevalues

G = 6.67 x 10-11m3/kgsec2
M = 1.99 x 1030kg,
c = 3.00x 108m/sec2,
I = 5.52 x 1010m,
T = 88.0 days/revolution.

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 CLASSROOMNOTE 299

Plugging
thesehugenumbers into(5) yieldsa precession
of43.1"/century,
inexcellent
agreementwithobservation.
Acknowledgments.PaulDavisencouraged metowriteup thisportion ofa talk
I gaveattheBostonWorkshop forMathematics Facultyinthesummer of1991.I found
thestoryofJohnCouchAdamsin theEncyclopedia Britannica.
HermanKarchertold
methestory ofGalileo,whichappearsin[DK]. I first
learnedthederivation
ofMercury's
precessionfromSpain[S, Chap.VIII] andWeinberg [W,Chap.9] withthehelpofmy
friendIra Wasserman (see [M,Chap.7]). The shortderivationgivenhereis basedon
a talkbymystudent PhatVu at a mathematics colloquium at Williams
College,inturn
basedon Jeffery
[J].MycolleagueDavidParkmadesomehelpful suggestions.

REFERENCES

[DK] S. DRAKE AND C. T KowAL,Galileo's

sighting
ofNeptune,
Sci. Amer.,December,1980, pp. 7481.
[J] G. B. JEFFERY,Relativity
forPhysics
Students, London,1924.
Dutton,
[M] F. MORGAN,Riemannian A Beginner's
Geometry: Guide,JonesandBartlett,
Boston,MA,1992.
[S] B. SPAIN,TensorCalculus,
Wiley,
NewYork,1953.
[W] S. WEINBERG, Gravitation
andCosmology, NewYork,1972.
Wiley,

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