Kepler's Second Law Illustrated in VRML Cover Page

Adapted from a project by Ian Volek

The picture above is a snapshot of a model constructed using VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) in which computer coding is translated by an Internet browser in order to view items in a virtual environment. If you have a VRML plug-in for your browser, you can click on the picture to see the orbiting planet change speeds. According to Kepler's second law, a planet sweeps out equal areas in equal times--the area swept out by a line connecting the planet and the sun in a given length of time is always the same. Therefore, a planet moves faster as it gets closer to the sun and slows as it moves away.