- #1
AudenCalbray
- 15
- 0
Homework Statement
How much work is done moving a 1500 kg spacecraft from the Earth's surface into a fixed orbit at a height of 300 km above the Earth's surface?
Homework Equations
Eg = -Gm1m2/r
Ek = 1\2mv^2
mass of earth: 5.98 x 10^24 kg
radius of earth: 6.38 x 10^6 m
The Attempt at a Solution
So the change in Eg plus the change in Ek is equal to 0. I solved the problem without using the 300 km or the mass of the spacecraft and I know it is wrong. I got the escape velocity (11000 m/s) and then got the kinetic energy, assuming Ek2 was 0.
I restarted the problem, and now my conservation of energy equation reads: Ek = Eg2-Eg1, again assuming Ek2 is zero, which is wrong, but I do not know how the get the change in energy otherwise. I would love some help on this. Thank you.