Question
Calculations of this phenomenon generally ignore a quadrupole-moment term induced by the oblateness of the Sun. For 10 points each:
[10m] Name this phenomenon whose apsidal form causes a gradual perturbation of an orbiting body’s trajectory over time. General relativity attributes an inverse cubic potential to this phenomenon.
ANSWER: apsidal precession [accept orbital precession]
[10e] Apsidal precession occurs because two-body systems do not perfectly follow this scientist’s inverse-square law describing the gravitational force between two masses.
ANSWER: Isaac Newton [accept Newton’s law of universal gravitation]
[10h] The rate of apsidal precession is proportional to the product of this vector with its time derivative. This vector is a constant of motion for Keplerian orbits.
ANSWER: Laplace–Runge–Lenz (“la-PLOSS ROON-guh LENTS”) vector [or LRL vector or Laplace vector or Runge–Lenz vector]
<Physics>
Summary
| 2023 ACF Winter @ Columbia | 11/11/2023 | Y | 9 | 15.56 | 89% | 56% | 11% |
Data
| Bard A | Columbia C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cornell C | Columbia A | 10 | 10 | 0 | 20 |
| Princeton A | NYU A | 10 | 10 | 10 | 30 |
| NYU B | Rowan A | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| Penn A | Rutgers B | 10 | 10 | 0 | 20 |
| Haverford | Princeton B | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| Columbia B | Rutgers A | 10 | 10 | 0 | 20 |
| Yale A | Vassar | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| Penn B | Yale C | 10 | 10 | 0 | 20 |