What is its centripetal acceleration?
neela Teacher Graduate School eNotes Editor The gravitatational attractional force, F between satellite of mass m and the earth of mass M separated by a distance of the distance R, the radius of earth is given by: F = GMm/R^2, which should be equal to the the centrepetal force, mv^2/R, where v is the velocity of the satellite. Therefore , the centrepetal acceleration of the satellite should be, v^2/R = GM/R^2 = 6.673*10^-11*5.98*10^24/(6371000)^2 =9.8312m/s^2, which is the value of the normal gravitational acceleration on the surface of the earth.
