In the seventeenth century, astronomer Johannes Kepler observed the planets revolving around our sun and analyzed data about them. He found that as the distance from the Sun increases, the amount of time it takes for the planet to go all the way around the Sun increases. Even though Kepler did not know why his observation was true, it has been found that planets in all solar systems always revolve around suns the same way. Which best describes why Kepler's observation of planetary motion is a law instead of a theory? It does not discuss independent and dependent variables that can be observed or tested. It does not provide an explanation for why the relationship exists between distance and orbit time. A lot of new technology has been developed that can record more accurate data about planetary motion. A lot of different understandings of why planets move have been developed, and Kepler's provides the best explanation.

Question

Physics

Maxim Chan

19 March, 09:22

In the seventeenth century, astronomer Johannes Kepler observed the planets revolving around our sun and analyzed data about them. He found that as the distance from the Sun increases, the amount of time it takes for the planet to go all the way around the Sun increases. Even though Kepler did not know why his observation was true, it has been found that planets in all solar systems always revolve around suns the same way. Which best describes why Kepler's observation of planetary motion is a law instead of a theory? It does not discuss independent and dependent variables that can be observed or tested. It does not provide an explanation for why the relationship exists between distance and orbit time. A lot of new technology has been developed that can record more accurate data about planetary motion. A lot of different understandings of why planets move have been developed, and Kepler's provides the best explanation.

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Darryl Mcdaniel · Answer 1

The answer is:

It does not provide an explanation for why the relationship exists between distance and orbit time.

This is the crucial difference between law and theory. Law is something that you observe and something that is tested through experiments.

The theory is a model that explains phenomena that we observe. Theory should be able to explain the law that we observed, and in the ideal case, it should give us some new physics.

The theory that explains Kepler's laws is a general theory of relativity. This theory also explains Newton's law of gravity.