Here's why:
* Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion: The farther a planet is from the sun, the longer its orbital path. This is due to Kepler's Third Law, which states that the square of a planet's orbital period (its "year") is proportional to the cube of its average distance from the sun.
* Orbital Velocity: While planets farther out have longer orbital paths, they also move slower. This is because the sun's gravitational pull weakens with distance, so the planets farther out experience less gravitational acceleration and therefore have lower orbital speeds.
Think of it like this: imagine you're running around a track. If you're running on the inside lane, you have a shorter distance to cover but you need to run faster to complete a lap. If you're on the outer lane, you have a longer distance but can run slower. The same concept applies to planets.
In summary: The combination of longer orbital paths and slower orbital speeds for planets farther from the sun leads to longer "years" for those planets.
