written by Wolfgang Christian

The Sun-Planet Potential Java model plots the gravitational potential U(r) starting at the surface of Sun to two astronomical units (AUs). The planet is located at 1 AU and potential plot passes through the center of the planet assuming a constant mass density. Because Earth has a mass approximately 3 million times smaller than the mass of Sun, the program allows the user to zoom in to observe the potential near the planet. The user can also vary the planet's mass and observe the effect of planet mass on potential.

The simulation was developed using the Easy Java Simulations (EJS) modeling tool.  It is distributed as a ready-to-run (compiled) Java archive.  Double clicking the  ejs_mech_orbits_SunEarthPotential.jar file will run the program if Java is installed.

• Download ejs_mech_orbit_SunEarthPotential.jar - 1753kb Java Archive File

Published February 12, 2016
Last Modified February 9, 2016

The source code zip archive contains an EJS-XML representation of the Sun-Planet Potential Java model.   Unzip this archive in your EJS workspace to compile and run this model using EJS.

• Download ejs_mech_orbit_SunEarthPotential.zip - 92kb Compressed File

Last Modified February 9, 2016