Question

venus’s orbital eccentricity is 0.0068 which is almost a perfect circle while mercury’s orbital eccentricity is 0.206 which is stretched out into more of an oval shape.
true or false:
mercury’s distance from the sun would change, causing it to speed up and slow down, while venus’s distance and speed would stay the same.
(1 point)
○ true
○ false

Explanation:

1. Recall Kepler's laws: All planets have elliptical orbits (even if eccentricity is low, like Venus's nearly - circular orbit is still an ellipse).
2. For any elliptical orbit, a planet's distance from the Sun (the focus) changes as it moves along the orbit. By Kepler's second law, the speed also changes (closer to the Sun, faster; farther, slower).
3. Venus has a very low eccentricity (0.0068), so its orbit is nearly circular, but it still has a slight ellipse. Thus, Venus's distance from the Sun and speed also change (though the changes are small), and Mercury, with a higher eccentricity (0.206), has more pronounced changes. The statement claims Venus's distance and speed stay the same, which is incorrect.

Answer:

False