# Angular Momentum and Orbits

1. Mar 23, 2010

### sheepcountme

1. The problem statement, all variables and given/known data
A planet has an eccentricity of 0.006800 and a semimajor axis of 0.7233 AU, find the ratio of ortibal speed at perihelion to that at aphelion.

2. Relevant equations

d=e x a
L=mvrsin$$\theta$$

3. The attempt at a solution
I plugged in and solved for the distance between the foci (0.004918)
and then set the angular momentum constants equal to each other:
m v(p) rmin sin$$\theta$$=m v(a) rmax sin$$\theta$$
the masses and sin$$\theta$$ cancel out, so
v(p) x r min = v(a) x r max
and so the ratio is:
v(p) / v(a) = r max / r min

r max is the semimajor axis, and r min is the semimajor axis minus the d as found above:
So, it should be .7233/.718382 which gives me 1.00685, but this was incorrect according to my online homework, could you tell me what I did wrong?

2. Mar 24, 2010

### Filip Larsen

The relation vp/va = ra/rp is correct, but ra and rp are the aphelion and perihelion distances, respectively, and are given by ra = a(1+e) and rp = a(1-e).