Question

1. the planet takes one month to travel from x to y and one month to travel from a to b. what does kepler’s 2ⁿᵈ law tell you about the areas of the two triangles?

Explanation:

Kepler's 2nd law (Law of Equal Areas) states that a line segment joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time. Here, the planet takes 1 month (equal time) to travel from X to Y and from A to B. So, the area of the triangle formed by the Sun and the path from A to B (triangle ASB) and the area of the triangle formed by the Sun and the path from X to Y (triangle XSY) should be equal because the time intervals are equal.

Answer:

According to Kepler’s 2nd law, the areas of the two triangles (formed by the Sun and the planet's paths from A to B and from X to Y respectively) are equal, as the time taken to travel each segment (1 month) is equal.