Calvin Choi

Physics 1B

Feynmans Derivation of Keplers First Law from the Law of Universal Gravitation
Feynmans Lost Lecture is a book written by David and Judith Goodstein that revolves
around a lecture done by Richard Feynman about the motion of the planets around the Sun. The
book includes some history about the material and the proof of Keplers First Law using only
geometry and the Newtons three laws. In the lecture, Feynman shows a simple demonstration
of Newtons discovery that Keplers first law is a result of the other two laws, which Newton
wrote about in Principia. However, Feynman provides his own twist to the proof.
Feynman starts his derivation with an explanation and proof of some properties of an
ellipse. First, he shows how an ellipse can be made with two tacks, a string and a pencil. The
tacks are the foci of the ellipse and the string of a constant length is tied to each tack. This means
that the ellipse can only be drawn of the string length stays constant. The pencil will trace an
ellipse if set up like in Figure 1. Another property he mentions is that if the inner side of the
ellipse was a mirror and a light source is place at one focus, then all of the light would be
reflected to the other focus, as shown in Figure 2. This means that for any line drawn from one
focus to the edge and to the other focus, the angle made by the each of the line and the tangent of
the ellipse are equal (Figure 3). Although there is a proof of these properties in the book, I will
not include them here in order to keep this report as short as possible. He later uses these two
properties of an ellipse to prove that the planets orbit is indeed elliptical.

After he begins to talk about the actual motion of the planets. Assume that the sun is at one focus
of an ellipse and a planet is orbiting around it. Instead of dealing with the ellipse as a whole,
Feynman divides it into sections. However, it is here where Feynman deviates from Newtons
proof. Newton divided the ellipse into sections of the equal area, whereas Feynman divided it
into sections with the equal angles (Figure 4). According to Keplers second law, we know that
the planet will sweep out equal areas of the ellipse in equal time intervals. This means that the
time interval is proportional to the area that is swept out. The area is proportional to the square of
the distance to planet is from the Sun. If we combine the two, we find that the time is
proportional to the square of the distance from the Sun (t~R
2
). We know that when the planet is
closest to the Sun, it is traveling the fastest and vice versa for when it is farthest away. According
to figure 4, it would mean that it would take less time to go through the same angle at the closer
end. Newtons first law, the law of inertia, states that an object in motion will stay in motion with
the same speed and
direction until an
external force is
acting on it. If we
bring this to the
planet, the planet
would continue in a
straight line with a
certain speed forever.
However, because of
the gravitational force
from the Sun, the velocity and the direction of the planet changes. The change in velocity would
be directed towards the Sun as that is where the force is directed to. Newton defines in his Law
of Universal Gravitation that this force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance
from the Sun (F~1/R
2
). In addition, it can be said that the greater the time the force acts or the
greater the force that acts will produce a greater change in velocity. Therefore, v~F t, but we
know from before that t~R
2
and F~1/R
2
. v~(1/R
2
) R
2
=1 From this, we discover that the
change in velocity at any angle is the same, no matter how far away the planet is from the Sun in
its orbit. Now that we know this, we can move on. In Feynmans proof, the sections of orbit is
separated with equal angles. We
assume that instead of the planet
moving in a curve, the planet
moves in a straight line; after
traveling through a certain angle
from the Sun, an instantaneous
force changes the velocity and
alters the path of the planet. In
Figure 5, several of these sections
are shown. The diagram on the
left is that of the orbit and the one
to the right is a diagram of the
velocities. The planet is at first on
the path JK and is moving with a
velocity equal to Oj on the velocity diagram. At K, there is an instantaneous force on the planet
toward S, causing a change of the planets velocity equal to jk, which is parallel to KS. This
causes the planet to now follow the path KL. If the velocity diagram was from the whole ellipse,
we notice that the shape would be a regular polygon. If we were to increase the number of
sections with smaller angles, the orbit and velocity would begin to look more like smooth curves.
The velocity diagram would
look like a circle with the
point O being off-center.
Now we consider the orbit
and velocity diagrams as a
smooth curve (Figure 6).
Point J is the point closest to
the Sun, which is at point S.
The velocity of the planet is
the highest at this point;
therefore, it is represented
by the longest line that can
be made from the origin to
the side of the velocity circle, line Oj. After traveling a certain angle to point P, the velocity is
now v
p
, represented by Op on the velocity circle. The line created by the origin and the side of
the circle is parallel to the direction of the velocity. Next, we rotate the velocity diagram 90
degrees so that the center and origin would be in the same direction as the foci of the orbit
diagram. Using the new velocity
diagram, we can build the orbit
diagram inside it. First, we have the
perpendicular bisector of line Op. We
know that the bisector is parallel to v
p

of the orbit diagram, because of the
90 degree rotation of the velocity
diagram. The bisector will crosses
line Cp at point P. If point p is
moved to another point on the edge
of the circle with all the lines still
intact, the configuration will look
like Figure 7. If point p moves
around the circle, point P will trace out the orbit diagram with the origin O and the center of the
circle being the two foci of the ellipse. Now, it is time to prove that the orbit created by new
diagram is, in fact, an ellipse. For this, Feynman uses the properties of an ellipses discussed
earlier. The new diagram looks like Figure 8, with point t being the intersection of the
perpendicular bisector and Op. The important thing to consider for the first property is the
constant length of the string. We must find that the length of line from O to P to C is the same no
matter where P is on the curve. First, we note that the triangles OtP and ptP are congruent. Their
sides Ot and pt are equal for they are the result of the perpendicular bisector. Angles Otp and ptP
also are both right angles from the bisector and therefore, congruent. In addition the two triangles
share a common side, tP. The culmination of the three proves
that the triangles are congruent. This means that line OP and
Pp are congruent and the same length. Further, this indicates
that the line made by O, P, and C is equal to line pC. We
know that pC is the radius of the circle and thus is constant
through the whole circle, which makes the line made by O, P,
and C constant as well. We have now proved the first
property. To prove the second property, we need to show that
the angle CPD is equal to angle OPt. Figure 9 is a simpler and closer look at the essential
diagram. To start, because the triangles OtP and ptP are congruent, angles OPt and pPt are equal.
Then, we see that angles pPt and CPD are equal, because they are vertical angles made when
line tP and pP crosses. Combining these two facts, we know that the angle CPD is indeed equal
to angle OPt. This proves the second property, which proves the curve is an ellipse and that the
planet will orbit with an elliptical path with the planet being at point P and the Sun at point C.
This shows that the combination of Newtons first law and his Law of Universal Gravitation will
result in elliptical orbits for planets. That finishes Feynmans proof of the law of ellipses.