SnitchSeeker.com - View Single Post - Astronomy II: You Spin Me Right Round, Baby (Orbits and Kepler's Laws)

laurange · 07-06-2019, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by griffin

Second law of orbits. So that’s what it was called. Wait… second? That meant that there was at least one other law. What were the other ones? WAS THIS GOING TO BE ON EXAMS? Were they even going to have exams this year with the mist? How was she going to remember all of this? The professor said that the law of areas was self-explanatory, but Cordelia had no idea what that meant. The law of periods was even more confusing. Even the law of ellipses which was the easiest for her to understand had big complicated words like perihelion and aphelion. What did those words mean? Lost. Cordelia was officially lost on where all of this theory was going. All this confusing stuff was giving her a headache. Oh good, they were done with the theory and moving on to practicing a spell. She could do spells. All too eagerly, Cordelia put away her notes that would almost certainly prove to be completely useless when she tried to study from them later. The Gryffindor pulled out her wand, ready for whatever came next. Creare orbis. Sounded like something that could create orbits. Oh, this had complicated concepts and words too. Dragons dung, she was hoping this part would be easy. ”Which part is the first focus?” Hopefully once she got that cleared up the exercise would be simple. Stretching she could do. Stretching was something she did all the time as part of her daily exercise routine and as part of her quidditch warm up.

Oh, a question.

Simran paused her stretching to check in on the one Cordelia Winkelbleck and smiled. Orbits, and their terminology, could be a lot to handle. Coming in close, she pulled the ever-present mechanical pencil from her pocket and drew a small ellipse in the corner of the girl's parchment paper.

"Imagine this is the orbit -- the first (often called primary) focus, is the centre of mass of the system. In this case, the sun." Which she then drew as a small point off the centre of the ellipse. "The first focus is stationary, relative to the system, so pick the object that you don't want moving and make sure it's heavier than the object that's orbiting it."

Quote:

Originally Posted by hermionesclone

Oh. Wow. That...... sounded a lot better when Sandhu said it.

Did he overcomplicate it?

With that thought in mind, Lucas made some notes, especially on the three laws on the blackboard. A planet closer to the sun moves faster. That was basic astronomy, right? Was that not what he was saying before? Maybe he really did overcomplicate his answer.

Once he'd made the last note, the third year packed up his things - apart from his quill and pencilcase - and took out his wand. He only had to make his pencil case orbit his hand, right? That sounded simple enough. He still didn't understand where the skates came in - unless they were making ellipses around...... something - but he was going to try not to think about that right now.

Creare Orbis. "Kre-ah-re OR-bis. Kre-ah-re OR-bis." Extra emphasis on the OR. "Creare Orbis! Creaaaaaaaare Orbis!" No, that wasn't it. "Creare Orbis!" How long had he been sitting there, just saying that incantation? He didn't know. But there was a lot more practice going into the incantation right now.

Was there any point practising the wand movement? He...... didn't think so.

Taking a deep breath, he said, "Creare Orbis!" while tracing the quill vertically and then tapping his pencilcase.

And the result? Nothing. Not even a twitch.

Oh dear, Master Dakest, was everything okay there?

Simran shuffled over, though shuffling was admittedly not necessary when a saree wasn't restricting your leg space, but it was a habit. "Would you say your pencilcase is heavy, Master Dakest?"

"It would be a stronger centre of mass if it were, and your spellwork would be easier. Consider weighing it down with something and see if that helps."

OOC: We'll be moving on to the main activity in about 6 hours.

07-06-2019, 12:09 PM	#34 (permalink)
laurange DERP & DMLE Ramora Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Kita's pocket Posts: 5,227 Hogwarts RPG Name: Aslan Archer Slytherin Second Year Hogwarts RPG Name: Rose Woods Gryffindor Third Year x9 x6	½ of Lauralie \| Koala \| The being in Ern's pocket \| Baby Smurf \| Prouf member of The Flock Quote: Originally Posted by griffin Second law of orbits. So that’s what it was called. Wait… second? That meant that there was at least one other law. What were the other ones? WAS THIS GOING TO BE ON EXAMS? Were they even going to have exams this year with the mist? How was she going to remember all of this? The professor said that the law of areas was self-explanatory, but Cordelia had no idea what that meant. The law of periods was even more confusing. Even the law of ellipses which was the easiest for her to understand had big complicated words like perihelion and aphelion. What did those words mean? Lost. Cordelia was officially lost on where all of this theory was going. All this confusing stuff was giving her a headache. Oh good, they were done with the theory and moving on to practicing a spell. She could do spells. All too eagerly, Cordelia put away her notes that would almost certainly prove to be completely useless when she tried to study from them later. The Gryffindor pulled out her wand, ready for whatever came next. Creare orbis. Sounded like something that could create orbits. Oh, this had complicated concepts and words too. Dragons dung, she was hoping this part would be easy. ”Which part is the first focus?” Hopefully once she got that cleared up the exercise would be simple. Stretching she could do. Stretching was something she did all the time as part of her daily exercise routine and as part of her quidditch warm up. Oh, a question. Simran paused her stretching to check in on the one Cordelia Winkelbleck and smiled. Orbits, and their terminology, could be a lot to handle. Coming in close, she pulled the ever-present mechanical pencil from her pocket and drew a small ellipse in the corner of the girl's parchment paper. "Imagine this is the orbit -- the first (often called primary) focus, is the centre of mass of the system. In this case, the sun." Which she then drew as a small point off the centre of the ellipse. "The first focus is stationary, relative to the system, so pick the object that you don't want moving and make sure it's heavier than the object that's orbiting it." Quote: Originally Posted by hermionesclone Oh. Wow. That...... sounded a lot better when Sandhu said it. Did he overcomplicate it? With that thought in mind, Lucas made some notes, especially on the three laws on the blackboard. A planet closer to the sun moves faster. That was basic astronomy, right? Was that not what he was saying before? Maybe he really did overcomplicate his answer. Once he'd made the last note, the third year packed up his things - apart from his quill and pencilcase - and took out his wand. He only had to make his pencil case orbit his hand, right? That sounded simple enough. He still didn't understand where the skates came in - unless they were making ellipses around...... something - but he was going to try not to think about that right now. Creare Orbis. "Kre-ah-re OR-bis. Kre-ah-re OR-bis." Extra emphasis on the OR. "Creare Orbis! Creaaaaaaaare Orbis!" No, that wasn't it. "Creare Orbis!" How long had he been sitting there, just saying that incantation? He didn't know. But there was a lot more practice going into the incantation right now. Was there any point practising the wand movement? He...... didn't think so. Taking a deep breath, he said, "Creare Orbis!" while tracing the quill vertically and then tapping his pencilcase. And the result? Nothing. Not even a twitch. Oh dear, Master Dakest, was everything okay there? Simran shuffled over, though shuffling was admittedly not necessary when a saree wasn't restricting your leg space, but it was a habit. "Would you say your pencilcase is heavy, Master Dakest?" "It would be a stronger centre of mass if it were, and your spellwork would be easier. Consider weighing it down with something and see if that helps." OOC: We'll be moving on to the main activity in about 6 hours. __________________