Chapter 2: The Copernican Revolution Learning Goals

Studying this chapter will enable you to:

1. Relate how some ancient civilizations attempted to explain the heavens in terms of Earth-centered models of the universe.
2. Summarize the role of Renaissance science in the history of astronomy.
3. Explain how the observed motions of the planets led to our modern view of a Sun-centered solar system.
4. Sketch the major contributions of Galileo and Kepler to the development of our understanding of the solar system.
5. State Kepler’s laws of planetary motion.
6. Explain how Kepler’s laws enable us to construct a scale model of the solar system, and explain the technique used to determine the actual size of the planetary orbits.
7. State Newton’s laws of motion and universal gravitation and explain how they account for Kepler’s laws.
8. Explain how the law of gravitation enables us to measure the masses of astronomical bodies.

© 1995-2002 by Prentice-Hall, Inc. A Pearson Company Legal Notice