what would be the mass required to keep an object with a mass of 250kg orbiting at a constant distance of 100km with a linear velocity of 100m/s?

the linear speed of an orbiting body is given by the equation sqrt(GM/2r) where M is the mass of the attracting body, G is the gravitational constant and r is the distance between the two bodies' centres of mass. The mass of the orbiting body is irrelevant yet is sometimes put into questions as red herrings to truly test the knowledge of students. To solve this all we need to do is rearrange the equation to give us M = 2v2r/G

We know all of the numbers on one side of the equation so all we have to do is plug in the numbers, v = 100m/s r = 100,000m                                G = 6.67x10-11 Nm2kg-2 . so after plugging all of the numbers into the equation we get that the mass required to keep an object orbiting at 100km at 100m/s is 3.0x1019kg or roughly 0.0005 x the mass of the earth 

MA
Answered by Michael A. Physics tutor

2201 Views

See similar Physics A Level tutors

Related Physics A Level answers

All answers ▸

A spacecraft needs to be slowed down from a speed of 96m/s to 8.2m/s. This can be done by firing an object as the spacecraft is moving. If the mass of the spacecraft is 6730kg and the object is 50kg, calculate the velocity of the ejected object.


A block of mass m is released from rest on a surface inclined at 30⁰ to the horizontal with a coefficient of friction of 0.3. How long does it take for the block to slide 1 m?


What do you understand by simple harmonic motion?


Why do gravitational fields around point masses obey an inverse square law?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2026 by IXL Learning