Physics problem... Stumped (1 Viewer)

SWJJ

moar bink ball
Joined
Mar 10, 2005
Messages
26,236
Reaction score
26,949
Age
118
Location
Shreveport
Online
A satellites are placed in a circular orbit that is 2.90 × 10 ^6 m above the surface of the earth. What is the magnitude of the acceleration due to gravity at this distance?


not sure how to set this up...
 
If it's in orbit, it shouldn't be accelerating... it should be at constant velocity.
So 0.

(Discounting the eventual drop to Earth, which I guess would mean that it is slowly.... very slowly... accelerating toward Earth)
 
In my day, we had to cheat off of other classmates. Man, the world has changed
 
If it's in orbit, it shouldn't be accelerating... it should be at constant velocity.
So 0.

(Discounting the eventual drop to Earth, which I guess would mean that it is slowly.... very slowly... accelerating toward Earth)


acceleration is not just a change in velocity, but a change in direction as well.

The force that pulls the sat down towards the earth, instead of it flying straight into space, is the acceleration.

I dont want the answer jonesy, just how to set it up, I dont have the mass of the sat so I cant calculate it that way... not sure where to go..
 
^^^ he does not know the mass only the distance.

For some reason this strikes me as a quick question if the satellite is just orbiting the earth with no acceleration other than the pull of gravity wouldn't the answer simple be 9.82m/s^2.

Or is it different since it is in space and not here on earth?

Just a thought to look at

T
 
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/A/accgrav.html

The acceleration that an object experiences because of gravity when it falls freely close to the surface of a massive body, such as a planet. Also known as the acceleration of free fall, its value can be calculated from the formula


g = GM / (R + h) 2


M should be the mass of the earth plus the mass of the sat, I will assume the mass of the sat is inconcesquential compared to the mass of the earth and work the proble set up like that..
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Users who are viewing this thread

    Back
    Top Bottom