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irishbob
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Homework Statement
(a) What is the minimum speed, relative to the Sun, necessary for a spacecraft to escape the solar system if it starts at the Earth's orbit?
Homework Equations
Kinetic Energy=Potential Energy
0.5mv^2=rGM/(r^2)
0.5v^2=GM/r
Where M is the mass of the sun, and r is the radius of the solar system
The Attempt at a Solution
v=[tex]\sqrt{\frac{2GM}{r}}[/tex]
v=[tex]\sqrt{\frac{2(6.673E-11)(1.98892E30)}{7.5E15}}[/tex]
v=188.1281 m/s
v=0.18813 km/s
So I'm pretty sure I'm using the right methods and variables, but I'm not sure what's going wrong. My only thought is that I'm using the wrong value for the radius, but I can't seem to find 1 value that's agreed upon for the radius of the solar system. Help?