Question

The velocity of a planet is the greatest at perigee.

(a) True

(b) False

The question was asked in an interview for internship.

The above asked question is from Gravitation in division Gravitation of Physics – Class 11

Answer 1

Correct answer is (a) True

To explain: From Kepler’s law of area, we know that a planet sweeps equal areas at equal intervals of time. Perigee is the closest point to the sun and hence, the velocity of the planet is greatest at the perigee because, only then, can the planet sweep an area equal to that when it was farther from the sun for the same interval of time.