Linear Momentum In The Film, The Martian

Rotation is the action of moving an object around a center and this concept is fully shown in the movie “The Martian”. The rotation however depends on the concept of angular momentum, which is the rotational analog of linear momentum. This quantity is and will be the same for any rotating object and will not change unless it is ever impacted with an external force. In this case per say the Earth or Mars, rotating about its axis the physical quantity will always be conserved. Thus poses the amount of daylight the planets receive. Therefore since Mars is farther away from the Sun than the Earth is, it receives less daytime. And it can be seen in the movie, because Mark Watney could only travel during the daytime, he had to work fast and efficiently if he needed to get anything done. Another scene that relates to this is the fact that due to the Earth’s and Mars’ rotation, the picking up of more supplies on the way back and the concept of picking up Watney from Mars, the timing of the spacecraft, Hermes, needed to be spot on. …show more content…
The laws state: orbits of planets are elliptical, the orbits of planets glide in equal areas and times, and the square of the orbital period is proportional to the cube of the orbital radius. These laws pertain to that of the Earth and Mars orbiting the Sun in the movie. Because of the gravitational pull of the Sun this causes the planets to orbit it. This gravitational pull then causes the planets to orbit in an elliptical motion around the Sun. This then varies each planets’ distance from the Earth and their rate of revolution due to again their angular momentum. This concept is seen in the movie when Hermes takes its path to and from Mars. It does take time and a lot of it when traveling from one planet to another. Which in this case makes it slightly difficult when NASA had to make the decision to turn Hermes around to return to