Before Kepler, Copernicus, and Galileo, the Ptolemaic model placed which body at the center of the solar system?
AJupiter
BThe sun
CThe moon
DThe Earth
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: D. The Earth
1. The Ptolemaic model is described as geocentric, meaning Earth-centered.
2. It required a different complex rule for each heavenly body's motion around Earth.
3. The Copernican model later replaced it by placing the sun at the center instead.
_Source: OpenStax Physics (CC BY 4.0), Ch 7 "Newton's Law of Gravitation", section 7.1 Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion_
Keep practising Newton's Law of Gravitation
Browse all Newton's Law of Gravitation questions for NCEA Level 3, or explore more Physics topics.
Related questions
Earth's closest approach to the sun is 1.47 x 10^8 km, and its farthest distance is 1.52 xA moon's orbital focal point sits 50,000 km from the center of its elliptical orbit, and tEarth orbits the sun at 1.496 x 10^8 km, taking one year. Neptune orbits at 4.490 x 10^9 kMercury orbits the sun with a period of 88.0 days at an average radius of 5.791 x 10^10 m.Using G = 6.673 x 10^-11 N.m^2/kg^2, what is the gravitational force between two 60.0 kg pEarth's radius is 6.37 x 10^6 m, and g at its surface is about 9.8 m/s^2. Using G = 6.673 Who first measured the gravitational constant G experimentally, and when?Why does the moon not trace a perfectly smooth circle around the sun?