Gravitational Force Between Point Masses
 

Gravitational Force Between Point Masses problem 20


  • A satellite is in a circular orbit around a planet. The radius of the orbit is and the period of the orbit is . The planet is a uniform sphere. Use Newton’s law of gravitation to show that and are related by:




    where is the mass of the planet and is the gravitational constant.


  • The Earth may be considered to be a uniform sphere of mass and radius . A geostationary satellite is in orbit around the Earth. Use the expression in (a) to determine the height of the satellite above the Earth’s surface.



 

main author and content editor: Odafe Adjeke