What is the orbital speed of a satellite in a circular orbit at a height h above
Practice Questions
Q1
What is the orbital speed of a satellite in a circular orbit at a height h above the Earth's surface?
sqrt(GM/R^2)
sqrt(GM/(R+h)^2)
sqrt(GM/(R-h)^2)
sqrt(GM/R)
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
What is the orbital speed of a satellite in a circular orbit at a height h above the Earth's surface?
Step 1: Understand that a satellite in orbit moves in a circular path around the Earth.
Step 2: Know that the speed of the satellite depends on the gravitational pull from the Earth.
Step 3: Recognize that the formula for the orbital speed (v) involves the gravitational constant (G), the mass of the Earth (M), the radius of the Earth (R), and the height of the satellite (h).
Step 4: The formula for the orbital speed is v = sqrt(GM/(R+h)^2).
Step 5: In this formula, (R + h) is the total distance from the center of the Earth to the satellite.
Step 6: To find the orbital speed, you need to plug in the values for G, M, R, and h into the formula.
