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Satellite Motion
Lesson 10: Satellite Motion
Key Points:
• Understand that satellites obey uniform
circular motion laws.
• Understand that for all orbiting bodies
gravitational attraction between the two
bodies provides the centripetal force.
• Learn that any orbit is achieved by making
sure a body travels far enough that the
distance it falls is accounted for by the
curvature of the body it orbits.
Nov 298:56 AM
Motions of Planets and Satellites
Newton used a drawing like the one below to illustrate a
“thought experiment”.
Now imagine a cannon perched atop a high mountain, shooting a
cannonball horizontally. The cannonball is a projectile and its
motion has vertical and horizontal components. It follows a
parabolic trajectory. During the first second the ball is in flight, it
falls 4.9m. If its speed increases, it will travel farther across the
surface of the earth, but it will still fall 4.9m in the first second of
flight.
Nov 298:56 AM
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Lesson10 Satellite Motion
Meanwhile, the surface of the earth
is curved. IF the ball goes just fast
enough, after one second it will
reach a point where the Earth has
curved 4.9m away from the
horizontal. That is, the curvature of
the earth will just match, the
curvature of the trajectory, and the
ball will orbit the earth.
Nov 298:56 AM
Motions of Planets and Satellites
A satellite in an orbit that is always the same height above the
earth moves with a uniform circular motion. Its centripetal
acceleration is ac = v2/r. Using Newton’s second law, F = ma,
with the gravitational force between the earth and the satellite we
obtain:
Gmearthm/r2 = mv2/r
Solving for velocity (v) we find:
v = √(Gmearth/ r)
Nov 298:56 AM
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Lesson10 Satellite Motion
Motions of Planets and Satellites
If we wish to find the period of the satellite’s orbit we find
that the force of gravity is balanced by the centripetal force
of the circular motion so we obtain:
Gmearthm/r2 = 4π2mr/T2
Solving for the period (T) we find:
T = 2π √(r3/Gmearth)
Nov 298:56 AM
Motions of Planets and Satellites
Note: the orbital velocity and period are independent of the mass
of the satellite.
Note: the velocity and period equations derived above can be
used for any body orbiting another. The mass of the central body
would replace the mass of the earth in the equation.
Nov 298:56 AM
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Lesson10 Satellite Motion
Review Activities
• Do examples 5.11 (p.278) and 5.12 (p.279).
• Read pages 276286 and do practice problems on
278279.
• Do check and reflect questions from p.286
Nov 298:56 AM
Jan 2510:53 AM
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Lesson10 Satellite Motion
Jan 2511:26 AM
Jan 2511:28 AM
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Lesson10 Satellite Motion
Jan 2511:28 AM
1. Calculate the speed of the moon in its orbit around the earth. (Radius of orbit 3.85x10
8 m, mass of moon 7.4x10
22 kg).
(1.02x103 m/s)
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Lesson10 Satellite Motion
3. Calculate the orbital speed of a satellite 5.0x10
6 m above the surface of Jupiter. (R
J= 7.18x10 m, mJ = 1.90x10 kg) (4.1x10 m/s)
7 27 4
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Lesson10 Satellite Motion
4. Calculate the speed of earth in its orbit around the sun. (Radius of earth’s orbit 1.49x10
11 m, mass of sun 1.98x10
30 kg).
(2.98x104 m/s)
5. Calculate the time of one year on Mars by setting centripetal force and gravitational force equal to each other. (m
M =6.4x10 kg,
23
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Lesson10 Satellite Motion
(1.9 years)
6. Using Kepler’s Laws, calculate the time of one year on Mars.