Lecture 5

The Copernican Revolution

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 The Universe of Antiquity
Prior to the year 1600 man’s naked-eye observations of the heavens had revealed:

• Ancient people
– Invented constellations
– Developed monthly & yearly calendars
– Tracked planets’ motions, etc.
– Predicted eclipses

• Greeks (Ptolemy) developed concept of celestial sphere in

an Earth-centered universe
– Earth “obviously” a motionless sphere
– Seven wanderers (planets, moon, Sun) went around
the Earth in “perfect” circles
– Stars circled Earth beyond planets

This simplistic, unquestioned view of the universe, based on naked-eye observations,

held for over 1500 years. But some wondered if this view might be wrong…
 Challenging the Earth-centered model

• Copernicus proposed a Sun-centered

(heliocentric) model in 1543.
• Used moving Earth in solar system!
• Revolutionary paradigm took time to
become accepted.
• No more accurate than the Ptolemaic
model in predicting planetary positions
because it still used perfect circles.

Copernicus (1473-1543)

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 Copernicus’ Universe
• Earth is rotating planet in circular
orbit around Sun
• Heliocentric model explained:
– daily changes
– yearly changes
– Retrograde motion of planets
• Revolutionized humanity’s view of
its place in “Universe”
– Earth is a planet that moves in circular
orbit just like all other planets
– Challenged primacy of Earth in
Universe - Earth no longer center
 Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
• Made extensive, systematic, accurate naked-eye observations
– 777 stars observed to high accuracy
– Sun, moon, planets (esp. Mars) for 20 yr throughout orbits
– Found existing predictions off by a month!
• Invented new, better instruments
• Established first “observatory”
 Brahe’s “Universe”
• Rejected Ptolemaic model
– inaccurate predictions
• Couldn't accept Copernican model
– What moved massive Earth?
– Stars would dwarf our Sun
– Couldn't detect stellar motions
• Compromised
– Moon & Sun orbited Earth
– Planets orbited Sun

• Finally hired Kepler, who used

Brahe’s observations to discover
the truth about planetary motion.
 Johannes Kepler (1571 - 1630)

• Used Brahe’s observations.

– Could not fit Brahe’s data to circular
orbits (especially Mars – 8’ error)
– Trusted data not beliefs
– Observations could only be
explained with ellipses!

• Developed 3 “laws” of planetary

motion and became the founder
of celestial mechanics.
 Kepler’s First Law
• The orbit of each planet around the Sun is an ellipse with the
Sun at one focus.
• Perihelion – closest approach
• Aphelion – farthest distance

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 Kepler’s Second Law
As a planet moves around its orbit, it sweeps out
equal areas in equal times.

Motion during
one month

Motion during
one month

This means that a planet travels faster when it is nearer to the

Sun and slower when it is farther from the Sun.
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 Kepler’s Third Law
More distant planets orbit the Sun at slower average
speeds, obeying the relationship

p2 = a3
p = orbital period in years
a = length of semimajor axis from Sun in AU

Example: Mars

p = 1.88 years a = 1.52 AU

p2 = 1.88 x 1.88 a3 = 1.52 x1.52 x 1.52

= 3.53 = 3.51
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 Think/Pair/Share
An asteroid orbits the Sun at an average distance
a = 4 AU. How long does it take to orbit the Sun?

A. 4 years
B. 8 years
C. 16 years
D. 64 years

Hint: Remember that p2 = a3

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 Think/Pair/Share
An asteroid orbits the Sun at an average distance
a = 4 AU. How long does it take to orbit the Sun?

A. 4 years
B. 8 years
C. 16 years
D. 64 years

We need to find p so that p2 = a3.

Since a = 4, a3 = 43 = 64.
Therefore, p = 8, p2 = 82 = 64.

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 Graphical version of Kepler’s Third Law

Kepler’s 3rd law is a powerful tool in exploring the motions of

many objects in universe – planets, stars, galaxies, etc
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 What have we learned?

Begin 3 minute review

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 What have we learned?
How did Copernicus challenge the Earth-centered
universe?
Copernicus proposed a heliocentric model; Brahe
provided the data needed to improve this model; Kepler
found a model that fit Brahe’s data.
What are Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion?
1. The orbit of each planet is an ellipse with Sun at one
focus.
2. As a planet moves around its orbit it sweeps out equal
areas in equal times.
3. More distant planets orbit the Sun at slower average
speeds: p2 = a3.
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 Galileo Galilei
• Simplistic view of the heavens changed dramatically with
telescope.
• Galileo first observed heavens with a telescope in 1609 but
many were close-minded, refused to believe; Church forced
Galileo to recant.
• But undeniable proof was there for all to see. His observations
proved Copernicus’ heliocentric model true.
 How did Galileo prove the
Copernican revolution?

Galileo overcame major objections to the

Copernican view. Three key objections
rooted in the geocentric view were:

1. Earth could not be moving because

objects in air would be left behind.
2. Non-circular orbits are not “perfect” as
heavens should be.
3. If Earth were really orbiting Sun,
we’d detect stellar parallax.

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 How did Galileo prove the
Copernican revolution?
Overcoming the first objection (nature of motion):

Galileo’s experiments showed that objects in

air would stay with Earth as it moves.
• Aristotle thought objects “naturally” come to rest.
• Galileo showed that objects will stay in motion
unless something slows them down (friction).

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 How did Galileo prove the
Copernican revolution?
Overcoming the second objection (heavenly perfection):

Using his telescope, Galileo saw:

•Mountains, valleys, craters on Moon
– Contradicted view that any heavenly
body was “perfectly” smooth
• Sunspots on Sun (“imperfections”)

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 How did Galileo prove the
Copernican revolution?
Overcoming the third objection (parallax):

• Galileo showed stars must be extremely far away — his

telescope showed the Milky Way as countless individual stars.
• If stars were much farther away, then lack of detectable
parallax was no longer so troubling.
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 Jupiter observations
• Planet orbited by four moons!
– Jupiter center of motion, not Earth
– Visible contradiction of Ptolemaic model

Galileo saw four moons orbiting Jupiter,

proving that not all objects orbit Earth.
 Galileo’s observations of Venus

• Galileo’s observations of phases of Venus proved

that it orbits the Sun and not Earth.
• A full Venus can’t be seen in Ptolemaic universe.
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 How did the heliocentric universe
explain planetary orbits?

• Planets were now understood to move relative to Earth

• Planets could appear at opposition, elongation, and conjunction
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 Sidereal period

• A planet’s sidereal period

is simply how long it
takes to orbit the Sun.

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 Synodic period

• A planet’s synodic period is

how long it takes to line up
with Earth and Sun
– Inner planets: planet’s
sidereal period plus distance
Earth moves in that time
– Outer planets: one year plus
distance planet travels in one
year

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 What have we learned?

Begin 3 minute review

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 What have we learned?

What was Galileo’s role in proving the Copernican

heliocentric solar system?

1) His observations provided evidence to support the

Sun-centered, heliocentric solar system of Copernicus.

2) His experiments overcame the remaining objections to

the Sun-centered solar system model.

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 How do we learn about the universe?

1. Science seeks natural explanations for

observed phenomena. (A scientific model
cannot include divine intervention).
2. Science progresses through the creation
and testing of models that explain the
observations as simply as possible.
3. A scientific model must make testable
predictions that would force us to revise
or reject the model if the predictions are
proven wrong.

Let’s look at how science is done…

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 The Scientific Method
While not all knowledge comes from science, it is
our best tool for understanding the natural world.

• Science: our key to understanding

– Based on what we observe (not imagine)
– Propose a hypothesis – what natural explanation
(model) might explain what we see?
– Testable prediction – verify model repeatedly
– Unconfirmed model may be revised or discarded
– Confirmed model = theory

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 What is a scientific theory?
• Many think a “theory” is just an untested idea or guess.
• In science, a theory is NOT the same as a hypothesis, rather:
• A scientific theory must:
• Explain a wide variety of observations with a few simple principles
• Be supported by a large, compelling body of evidence.
• NOT have failed any crucial test of its validity.
• A fact is a single piece of proven information – these are used
to build a theory
• A scientific law describes natural relationships (Kepler’s laws,
law of gravity, etc.)

Accepted scientific theories are tested explanations of nature

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 Think/Pair/Share
Einstein’s theory of relativity meets all the criteria
of a scientific theory. This means:
A. Scientific opinion is about evenly split as to whether
relativity is true.
B. Scientific opinion is about 90% in favor of the theory of
relativity and about 10% opposed.
C. After more than 100 years of testing, Einstein’s theory
has successfully met every test of its validity.
D. There is no longer any doubt that the theory of relativity
is absolutely true.

© 2010 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Think/Pair/Share
Einstein’s theory of relativity meets all the criteria
of a scientific theory. This means:
A. Scientific opinion is about evenly split as to whether
relativity is true.
B. Scientific opinion is about 90% in favor of the theory of
relativity and about 10% opposed.
C. After more than 100 years of testing, Einstein’s theory
has successfully met every test of its validity.
D. There is no longer any doubt that the theory of relativity
is absolutely true.

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 What have we learned?

Begin 3 minute review

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 What have we learned?
What is the nature of science?
Science: seeks explanations that rely solely on
natural causes; progresses through the creation and
testing of models of nature; models must make
testable predictions.

What is a scientific theory?

A model that explains a wide variety of
observations in terms of a few general principles and
that has survived repeated and varied testing.

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