Whizzing around the earth
Classical Mechanics
Level
2
The space shuttle had a top orbital speed of 8000 m/s and orbited in a circular orbit approximately 320 km above the earth's surface. How long was one orbit in seconds ?
Details and assumptions
- The radius of the earth is 6370 km.
The answer is 5254.
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1 solution
The radius of the shuttle's orbit is (6370+320) km, or 6,690,000 m. The distance of one orbit is 2 π r = 4 . 2 × 1 0 7 m . The orbit time is this distance divided by the velocity, which is 5254 seconds.