Gear a Martian year.
How can gears reproduce the slower year of Mars?
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How can gears reproduce the slower year of Mars?
Fit the components before testing.
Kepler’s third law sets the period ratio from orbital radii. A mechanical orrery approximates that ratio with gears. The drawing compares the actual gear ratio with the target period ratio.
Circular coplanar Earth/Mars model, normalized solar mass. Ideal gear train with an idler; tooth counts approximate periods. Orbit radii and gearing are schematic rather than a scale replica.
Match Mars’s year to within 1% using the gear pair.
Match the gear ratio to Mars’s year.