Science Questions

Question

If the distance from the Sun varied during an asteroid's orbit, would its kinetic energy change? Would its potential energy change? Would the total energy (sum of kinetic and potential energy) of the asteroid change?

Answer 1

The gravity exerted by the sun exerts a force on the objects attracted to it.  So if the distance between the sun and asteroid becomes narrower, the gravitational attraction gets stronger.  This attraction causes the asteroid to orbit at high speeds, thus increasing its kinetic energy since speed is associated with kinetic energy.  Potential energy is not really affected because there is no height between the asteroid and the sun.  The potential energy will not change.  But since the kinetic energy changes, then total energy will change, even though there is not much change in potential energy.