 Slight catchup Rhibear ~ Madam Solo ~ Dark Brooding Girl ~ Accio Jedi ~ Gryffinclaw ~ Just a doll
Tina's mood perked up a little bit once the lesson started and the first question was asked. Unlike most people, she rather enjoyed the theoretical portion of astronomy lessons because there was no chaos or vague opinion-based conjecture involved, just hard, undebatable facts. She pondered the question. Something about the solar system… that covered a lot of ground. Her initial thoughts went to the solar system's origin and how it was formed by the gravitational collapse of part of a molecular cloud… but somehow she doubted that was the direction this lesson was going. Of course the obvious answer had to do with orbit, planets going around the sun, moons going around planets, and so on - she couldn't think of any other way rollerskating could relate to astronomy - but some of the other students had already touched on that and it didn't need repeating. All that would do was make her seem too stupid to come up with her own answers!
For now, Tina kept quiet, though her silence wasn't from a lack of interest or attentiveness. She paid careful attention to Professor Sandhu's words, diligently copying the information and pertinent models in her notes. That lecture went on a lot longer than she thought it would, but she didn't mind at all. Kepler's model was an interesting topic, even if there were some aspects of it that Tina was still a little fuzzy on, and really any kind of safe, predictable lecture was better than the alternative. Hmm… maybe her first impression was wrong and this class wouldn't devolve into utter chaos after all!
Tina gave the next question a lot of. careful consideration, simultaneously listening to her classmates' answers and trying to recall enough details on the subject to formulate her own. She immediately noticed that so far, nobody had mentioned the math behind Kepler's Third Law. She had a basic understanding of how it worked, but she was having trouble putting it into words… or at least, words that wouldn't sound like she was reading straight out of her textbook. Disappointed in her inability to articulate what she was thinking, she focused on the second law instead. "According to Kepler's Second Law, a planet will cover the same area of space in equal amounts of time - for example, the earth covers the same area every 31 days, or approximately one month - but the rate of speed that it takes to do so varies depending upon its distance from the sun. A planet will move faster when closer to the sun and slower when farthest."
Wow… When Tina rehearsed that answer in her mind, it made sense, but hearing it voiced out loud, it sounded too rambly and inarticulate. Yeah, she was just gonna… stare at her notes for a while and try not to embarrass herself any worse.
__________________ Old voices I had thought long since dead whisper of another life I might have led
If I could take that second chance, If I could make my life anew, If only dreams came true... |