Scientific errors in the Bible

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Originally posted by w_fortenberry:
But the planetary orbits are said to be eliptical. This does not fit with your statement that "the earth/sun system also orbits a common point." Can you provide an explanation for the elliptical orbits of the planets?

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All orbits are eliptical (apart from parabolic and hyperbolic ones at any rate) even circular ones which are just special cases of elliptical orbits where e = 0....And the point orbited around is one of the focus points of the ellipse, termed the principle focus in the case of orbiting bodies...

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WF:
This is not in agreement with Percipient's formula of orbital mechanics. What causes all orbits to form elipses? What causes an eccentricity greater than zero?

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It is...Try this explanation Object not found!Look through all 3 sections and then work through the math yourself...[This message has been edited by joz, 12-04-2002]

You can work it out yourself...Just look at the final formula for e and work out what would give you e > 0.....Its not hard...