As a planet draws away from the sun in its orbit, the force between the sun and the planet (remains the same / increases / decreases) and the planet's speed (increases / decreases / remains the same).
1 answer
As a planet draws away from the sun in its orbit, the force between the sun and the planet decreases and the planet's speed decreases. This is due to the inverse square law of gravitation, which states that the force between two objects is proportional to the inverse square of the distance between them. As the planet moves farther away from the sun, the distance between them increases, resulting in a decrease in the force of gravity. According to Kepler's second law of planetary motion, as the planet moves farther from the sun, its orbital velocity decreases, leading to a decrease in speed.