9677 #21

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mhazelm
Posts: 193
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 3:33 pm

9677 #21

Post by mhazelm » Thu Oct 16, 2008 8:40 pm

Hi everyone,

this problem confused me a bit. I know I can find the centripetal acceleration and set it equal to the gravitational force, but when they ask about "orbiting" speed it made me think of escape velocity and such... the v I get is okay for orbiting? Here's the problem:

The curvature of Mars is such that its surface drops a vertical distance of 2 m for every 3600 m tangent to the surface. In addition, the gravitational acceleration near its surface is 0.4 times that near the surface of Earth. What is the speed a golf ball would need to orbit Mars near the surface, ignoring the effects of air resistance?

anyone able to offer more insight into this one?

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Helio
Posts: 809
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:11 pm

Re: 9677 #21

Post by Helio » Thu Oct 16, 2008 9:06 pm

it is problem 22

it is a geometry problem. the radius changes and so you use centripetal forces... it is way to hard for the current exams.

tonyhongxp
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2008 9:36 pm

Re: 9677 #21

Post by tonyhongxp » Thu Oct 16, 2008 9:48 pm

orbiting around the surface...
supposedly the surface is rounded... and it's a circle...

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grae313
Posts: 2296
Joined: Tue May 29, 2007 8:46 pm

Re: 9677 #21

Post by grae313 » Thu Oct 16, 2008 10:17 pm

have you checked http://grephysics.net ?
mhazelm wrote:Hi everyone,

this problem confused me a bit. I know I can find the centripetal acceleration and set it equal to the gravitational force, but when they ask about "orbiting" speed it made me think of escape velocity and such... the v I get is okay for orbiting? Here's the problem:

The curvature of Mars is such that its surface drops a vertical distance of 2 m for every 3600 m tangent to the surface. In addition, the gravitational acceleration near its surface is 0.4 times that near the surface of Earth. What is the speed a golf ball would need to orbit Mars near the surface, ignoring the effects of air resistance?

anyone able to offer more insight into this one?



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