Whenever two massive bodies interact via gravity it is useful to characterize the resulting motion. For example, is the situation more akin to scattering? Will an orbit result? If so, what shape? For both Newtonian gravity and general relativity circular orbits can result. In this section we explore the conditions for this to happen in both classical mechanics and general relativity.
There are two options in how to run these exercises:
| Run Locally | Run via Browser |
|---|---|
| Download the osp_gr.jar and osp_gr_worksheet6.pdf files. Double-click the “osp_gr.jar” file. When the jar file opens, select the “Relativity Worksheets” button at the bottom of the splash screen. Navigate to the “Worksheet #6” folder where you will find the interactive curricular materials that go with these exercises. | To run via your web browser, simply select one of the links in the outline after the "Description" link. |
You may directly access (browse) the binary directory containing jar files. Note that the binary directory also contains code libraries (jar files) that are not designed to run as stand-alone applications.