Orbital Simulator

Kepler's Candy Dish - An Orbital Simulator for Your Coffee TableServing as a handsome candy dish while not in use for experimentation, this project is designed to demonstrate the behavior of bodies in orbit, the exploration of which is credited in part to Johannes Kepler(1571 - 1630). It has 2 parts:a dish conforming to a hyperbolic funnel shape to simulate the gravitational field of a celestial body.a ramp with which the entry angle and velocity of a marble can be precisely selected. The ramp is held in place by a dovetail spring pin included in the profile.Inspired by a gravity well exhibit in a mall I visited as a kid where patrons would watch the curiously long roll time of a quarter spiraling down a large smooth funnel. The quarter had a fixed rolling path and would always follow a circular spiraling pattern determined by the drop-in ramp, but I wondered if eccentric(non-circular) orbits could be modeled given variations in the entry vector that were not allowed in the exhibit