Science Questions: What Is Kepler's Second Law?

Kepler’s Second Law is about how planets move faster when they’re closer to the Sun and slower when they’re farther away.

Imagine you're swinging on a swing. When you're close to the top of your arc, you go really fast, it feels like you're flying! But when you're at the bottom, near the ground, you slow down just before you start going up again. That’s kind of like what happens with planets.

Kepler's Second Law says that a planet sweeps out equal areas in equal times as it goes around the Sun. Think of it like a pizza slice, when the planet is near the Sun, it covers bigger slices (more area) quickly, but when it’s far away, it takes longer to cover smaller slices.

Earth moves faster in its orbit when it's close to the Sun (in January) and slower when it's farther away (in July). It’s like Earth is on a swing, sometimes going fast, sometimes going slow, but always following the same path around the Sun.