Could you explain how a sattelite can pick up more speed after circling the sun? I believe it is called the slingshot effect? Wouldn't any speed gained from the gravitational pull of the sun be counteracted by the same gravity when the sattelite was distancing itself from the sun?
for a clear answer using basic principles of momentum
and energy conservation.
This web page includes links to sites with related
material, including background from NASA.
Answered by: Bob Johnson, Ph.D. Theoretical Physics, Durham University, UK.
'There is no inductive method which could lead to the fundamental concepts of physics. Failure to understand this fact constituted the basic philosophical error of so many investigators of the nineteenth century.'