NPF Trivia Quiz - the return! (READ FIRST POST!)

[CheshireThief]

Technically, wasn't that more of a riddle than a trivia question?

That pretty much required logic and/or abstract thinking, wherein trivia is just a test of facts...

[Kikuichimonji]

Find Jupiter's orbital period in Earth years. Assume Jupiter is 5.2 times farther from the center of the sun than Earth is and that G = 6.67 *10^-11 N*m^2/kg^2 (G is the gravitational constant in the attractional force between all objects). Explain your reasoning.

[Meister]

Well, a riddle every now and then is alright, I think, as long as it doesn't appear too frequently. For now let's say no more riddles for the next two pages (40 posts) and I'll adress it in the next iteration of the rules.

[Sithdarth]

11.854948337126 years. Using T^2=(4*(Pi)^2/G(M+m))*r^2 where T is the orbital period, G is the gravitation constant, M is the mass of the sun, m is the mass of jupiter, and r is the average raidus of orbit. This I do believe is reffered to as Keplar's thrid law but there is a little bit of Newton thrown in.

edit: Thank you Physics 420 and that damn paper on orbital mechanics.

Well I don't know how much reasoning you want so here is some more:

w=2(pi)/T (w=angular velocity and T= period, standard circular motion stuff)
v=2(pi)r/T (v=plain old velocity and r=raidus, more circular motion stuff)
v=w*r
a=w^2*r (a=acceleration, last bit of circular motion)


F=ma (F=force and m=mass of jupiter standard Newtonian fare)
also:
F=GMm/r^2 (M=mass of sun)

Substituting w^2=v^2/r^2
GMm=m*v^2/r^2
GM=v^2*r
v^2=GM/r

v^2=4(pi)^2/T^2
T^2=4(pi)^2/v^2

Substituting for v^2 gives:
T^2=4(pi)^2*r^3/(GM)

Now that would be fine but we have two orbiting bodies and Jupiter has an effect on the Sun. So we have to use a trick to approximate the two bodies as one. This can be done, and I can't derive this, by adding the two masses and treating the system as a very light object orbiting the combined masses of the two bodies. This gives us:

T^2=4(pi)^2*r^3/(G(M+m))

Which it the equation I used. From here you plug and chug to the answer.

[Kikuichimonji]

Originally Posted by Sithdarth

11.854948337126 years.

Correct. Point and question, I suppose. Also, thanks for helping me with my physics homework

[Sithdarth]

In a certain books series centered around a sword that reveals all truths and the ones destined to wield it there exsisted an order called the druids. (Also, I'll be nice and tell you not to look for any books entitled The Sword of Truth, or with truth even in the title.) Now these druids wielded great powers of magic and science from a long forgotten age at allowed them to among other things extend their life through an extended sleep and greatly enhance their abilities in combat. However, in one book in the series a normal human was able to display combat abilities far above a druid with any weapon (including his hands) and even fight a creature that killed a druid to a stalemate without use of magic.

What was this man's name and from which book in the series is he from?

(I know I was vague but anyone thats read this series should get this and I dropped enough hints to make it searchable I think.)

edit: crap I typoed two words that might have changed that first answer

[Major Blood]

His name is Richard Cypher and he is from the Sword of Truth Series by Terry Goodkind.

[Sithdarth]

Incorrect I excluded that series in my question as I have never read it. Believe it or not there are at least two book series centered around a sword that reveals truth. Although I typoed and that might not have been as clear as intended the first time.

[Thaumaturge]

Well, I'm going to take a pot shot at Panamon Creel, ot he Sword of Shannara series.

[Sithdarth]

Incorrect but I like where this is headed. Also, the specific book in the series would be helpful as the series I'm thinking of has like 14 books all set around the same 3 or 4 families during several different generations.