High School

What is the gravitational force, to the nearest Newton, on a satellite with a mass of 100.8 kilograms in an orbit at an altitude of 38,400 kilometers? (The radius of the Earth is approximately 6,400 kilometers.)

Answer :

Final answer:

The gravitational force on a satellite with a mass of 100.8 kg in an orbit 38,400 km above the earth, when calculated using Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation, would be approximately 0.242 Newtons. Since the question asks for the force to the nearest Newton, the answer would be 0 Newtons.

Explanation:

The gravitational force on an object can be calculated using Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation: F = G * (m1 * m2) / r^2, where F is the gravitational force, G is the gravitational constant, m1 and m2 are the masses of the two objects, and r is the distance between the centers of the two objects.

For this particular problem, m1 would be the mass of the Earth (5.9726 × 10^24 kg), m2 would be the mass of the satellite (100.8 kg), and r would be the radius of the orbit + the radius of the Earth, converted from kilometers to meters (6,400 km + 38,400 km = 44,800 km = 44.8 * 10^6 m).

So the gravitational force F would be: F = 6.674 * 10^-11 N * m^2/kg^2 * ((5.9726 * 10^24 kg * 100.8 kg) / (44.8 * 10^6 m)^2). When calculated, the gravitational force comes out to be approximately 0.242 Newtons, rounded to the nearest Newton the gravitational force would be 0 N.

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