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Verbal·Expression of Ideas·Rhetorical Synthesis

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While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• Kepler’s first law of planetary motion states that the orbit of a planet around the Sun is an ellipse.
• The law also states that, in an elliptical orbit, the object being orbited is one of the ellipse’s foci.
• Kepler’s laws of planetary motion also apply to natural satellites (e.g., moons).
• Tethys is a moon of Saturn that orbits the planet in 1.89 Earth days on average.
• Tethys’s orbit is elliptical.

The student wants to provide an explanation and example of Kepler’s first law of planetary motion. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A

Saturn’s moon Tethys completes an orbit in 1.89 Earth days on average, a clear example of Kepler’s first law of planetary motion, which describes the elliptical orbit of planets.

B

Tethys’s orbit of Saturn is elliptical, demonstrating Kepler’s first law of planetary motion, which describes the elliptical orbits of planets but applies to moons as well.

C

Kepler’s first law of planetary motion, which describes the orbits of Saturn and other planets in the solar system, states that the object being orbited is one of the ellipse’s foci.

D

Kepler’s first law of planetary motion states that the orbit of a planet around the Sun is an ellipse rather than a perfect circle.