PIRA 1S10.10 Kepler's Second Law

Photo shows the demonstration used at the U.T. Austin Physics Dept.

• This demo contains Sulfur powder. Under no circumstances should the instructor or demo worker operate this demo without gloves.

• The MSDS is with the demo at all times.

• DO NOT touch your skin or clothing when wearing gloves.

• Verify that the demo is plugged in and that the power strip is on.

• Release the pendulum such that an elliptical orbit is made.

• Stop the pendulum and rest the chain on the tripod stand.

• Use the time markers to measure the sections of the orbit that are equal in time.

• Confirm Kepler's Second Law.
• In equal time intervals, the areas swept by the elliptical path are also equal.

Photos show the demonstration used at the U.T. Austin Physics Dept.

• Wear proper PPE before handling the demo .

• Place the black board in between the tripod stand.

• Pour small amount of sulfur powder from the small glass container labelled "used" onto the black board. Use about as much sulfur shown in the figure on the left below.

• Use the brush and spread the powder thinly onto the board. The board should look like the figure shown on the right below.

• Plug one end of the cable into the black board and the other end into the tripod stand. When delivering, plug in the power source.

• Once the demo is returned, pour the remaining sulfur powder into the glass container labelled for disposal as best as you can. The container is pictured below.

• Wash the remaining remnants off of the black board in the sink with soap and water.

• Wash the table that the demo was used on with soap and water.

• Wash the brush with soap and water.

• Dry the table and black board and store in the designated demo container.

Last Updated 2023 - University of Texas at Austin Physics Dept. - All Rights Reserved.