ASTRONOMY - Summer 1999
Dr. Robert Gardner
Erros in the Lab Manual "Investigating Astronomy: Model Building and Critical Thinking"

The seem to be a few typographical errors in the lab manual we are using. They mostly seem to appear in equations (especially those involving greek letters). If you think you have found an error, then please contact me! Below are the errors I have found.

  1. On page 38, the equation involving squares of periods and cubes of distances should have an equals sign in it (this is not a vital error, since your computations will use the equation at the top of page 39, which is correct).
  2. On page 43 in the second box it is stated that "the circumference of the Earth is equal to 2 R(Earth)." Of course, the circumference of the Earth (or any circle or sphere) is 2 times pi times the radius. The factor of pi is missing and this will affect your answer to this question and the subsequent questions in this exercise.
  3. On page 44, the equation for the volume of the Earth is missing a factor of pi. It should be that volume equals 4/3 pi R3.


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