Table of Contents
- 1 Does the mass of a satellite affect its orbit?
- 2 How does the gravitational force change as the distance between Earth and satellite increase?
- 3 Why does the mass of the satellite affect its orbit?
- 4 Why does changing the mass of a satellite not affect its orbit?
- 5 How does the gravitational force of attraction between two objects having fixed mass vary if the distance between them is tripled?
- 6 How does gravity pull things down to earth?
- 7 How is gravity related to the mass of a satellite?
- 8 How is the radius of the Earth affected by gravity?
- 9 How is gravity measured on the earth’s surface?
Does the mass of a satellite affect its orbit?
Assuming we are talking about the mass of the satellite (and not the mass of the body being orbited), mass does not affect the orbital speed.
How does the gravitational force change as the distance between Earth and satellite increase?
The size of the gravitational force is proportional to the masses of the objects and weakens as the distance between them increases.
What would cause the gravitational force between Earth and a satellite to decrease?
The gravitational force between two objects can decrease when the mass is decreased, and/or when the distance between the two objects is decreased. an object in circular orbit (Like a satellite) has forward motion but is constantly being pulled by the force of gravity towards Earth.
Why does the mass of the satellite affect its orbit?
The mass of the satellite definitely affects where it stays in the orbit (leo, meo or geo). Gravitational force between two objects is directly proportional to the product of their masses and indirectly proportional to the square of the distance between them.
Why does changing the mass of a satellite not affect its orbit?
No change will happen, as gravitational force will become half as well, so acceleration (=force/mass) will remain same. Note that the speed of a particle in a gravitational orbit does not depend on its mass. Therefore, the satellite will continue to travel in the same orbit.
How does the gravity of the satellite compared with the Earth?
As a satellite moves around the Earth in a circular orbit, the direction of the force of gravity is always towards the centre of the Earth. If you took a satellite to this height and released it, it would still fall towards the Earth because the force of gravity is nearly the same as it is at the Earth’s surface.
How does the gravitational force of attraction between two objects having fixed mass vary if the distance between them is tripled?
So as the mass of either object increases, the force of gravitational attraction between them also increases. Since gravitational force is inversely proportional to the square of the separation distance between the two interacting objects, more separation distance will result in weaker gravitational forces.
How does gravity pull things down to earth?
Gravity is the reason things with mass or energy are attracted to each other. The reason gravity pulls you toward the ground is that all objects with mass, like our Earth, actually bend and curve the fabric of the universe, called spacetime. That curvature is what you feel as gravity.
How does the mass of the star affect the planet’s orbit?
The more massive a planet or star is, the stronger the gravitational force it exerts. It is this force that allows a planet or star to hold other objects in their orbit. This is summed up in Isaac Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation, which is an equation for calculating the force of gravity.
Newton worked out that, if the distance from the centre of the Earth doubles, gravity becomes a quarter as much as it was on the surface. A satellite with a mass of 1000 kg has a weight force of 9800 N at the Earth’s surface.
How is the radius of the Earth affected by gravity?
The radius of the Earth is about 6366 km, so at 6366 km above the Earth’s surface, the distance from the centre of the Earth will have doubled. The weight force pulling it towards the centre of the Earth will now only be a quarter as much but will still be 2450 N.
What happens when a satellite moves too fast?
If the satellite is moving too quickly then the gravitational attraction between the Earth and the satellite is too weak to keep it in orbit. If this is the case, the satellite will move off into space. This occurs at speeds around or above 11,200 metres per second (m/s).
How is gravity measured on the earth’s surface?
Scientists can map gravity anywhere on the Earth’s surface by measuring tiny changes in distance between the two satellites as each of them speeds up and slows down in response to gravitational force.