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Project 1 Essay

Satisfactory Essays

Project 1:

1. Results for a: ht=500/ spd=0mph —too slow! Satellite crashed into Earth! Results for b: ht=500/ spd=100mph —too slow! Satellite crashed into Earth! Results for c: ht=500/ spd=25000mph —too fast! Satellite left viewing area and took off in space somewhere!

I was determined to get a 100%, so I played around with the numbers until I found that at 500 miles above the Earth, the satellite would have to be launched at 16,700mph in order to reach a perfect orbit. Below is the explanation of why:

“Although the satellite is always falling towards the earth, because of gravity, the right combination of height and speed causes the satellite to fall as much as the earth curves, so the satellite never crashes”

2. I thought …show more content…

7. The asteroid that is travelling at constant speed would not be accelerating, since constant speed is continuous motion with no acceleration.

8. Gravity is the force that is keeping the asteroid in orbit around the sun. The force of gravity will pull the asteroid inward, but because the asteroid is constantly moving forward- it is sort of a constant state of perfectly balanced tug-of-war.

9. 1) Sun 2)Jupiter 3) Mars 4)Other Asteroids The reason for these rankings is because although the Asteroid belt is located between Jupiter and Mars, ALL of the other objects in these ranks are orbiting around the Sun… Jupiter’s gravitational pull will cause an asteroid to collide with another asteroid, however, so you could say that Jupiter’s influence is stronger than Mars, and if other asteroids collide with an asteroid, it will change the mass of the asteroid itself by breaking it apart- only to be pulled in again by Mars or Jupiter (and overall, the Sun).

10. KE= 0.5 x 1000 (30)2 (that is 30 squared..I just cant figure out how to get my keyboard to type it and it’s driving me insane…)

11. KE= 0.5x1000(30)squared KE= 0.5x1000(900) KE= 0.5x900,000 KE= 450,000

12. If the distance of the sun were farther, the kinetic energy would not change- because the velocity and the mass of asteroid would still remain the

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