Meaning & use
orbital period
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Meaning
nouncountablephysics
The time an object, such as a planet or satellite, takes to complete one full orbit around another body.
Grammar: Takes an or the: the orbital period of Mars.
Patterns
- the orbital period of something
The orbital period of Earth is about 365 days.
A satellite closer to the planet has a shorter orbital period.
Astronomers measured the orbital period of the new moon.
Word forms
| plural | orbital periods |
|---|
Common combinations
- calculate the orbital period
- Students calculate the orbital period using Kepler's law.
- short orbital period
- Mercury has a short orbital period.
- long orbital period
- Neptune has a very long orbital period.
- orbital period of a planet
- The orbital period of a planet depends on its distance from the Sun.
Synonyms and how they differ
- year
- A year is the orbital period of Earth specifically, while orbital period applies to any orbiting object.
- revolution time
- Revolution time is a looser phrase, and orbital period is the exact scientific term.
Word family
Commonly confused: orbital period or rotation period?
orbital period vs rotation period
A rotation period is the time an object takes to spin once on its own axis, such as a day on Earth.
Practice
Which describes the orbital period of Earth?
Choose one answer.
Earth takes about 365 days to orbit the Sun. About 24 hours is its rotation period, and about 27 days is roughly the Moon's orbit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “orbital period”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.