Question
A satellite is orbiting the earth at a distance of 1.00 x 10^3 km. What is its speed?
Answers
Jennifer
Set the force of gravity equal to the force of the centripetal acceleration:
G*m*M/r^2 = m*v^2/r
r is radius of orbit, G is gravitational constant, M is mass of earth, m is mass of satellite (which cancels out of both equations), v is the speed of the orbit
G*m*M/r^2 = m*v^2/r
r is radius of orbit, G is gravitational constant, M is mass of earth, m is mass of satellite (which cancels out of both equations), v is the speed of the orbit