CHAPTER 5 | GRAVITY 97
- Why is it a little bit misleading to say that this astronaut is
weightless? - Describe the orbit followed by the slowest cannonball on page 84 on
the assumption that the cannonball could pass freely through Earth.
(Newton got this problem wrong the fi rst time he tried to solve it.) - If you visited an asteroid 30 km in radius with a mass of 4.0 1017 kg,
what would be the circular velocity at its surface? A major league
fastball travels about 90 mph. Could a good pitcher throw a baseball
into orbit around the asteroid? - What is the orbital period of a satellite orbiting just above the surface
of the asteroid in Problem 9? - What would be the escape velocity at the surface of the asteroid in
Problem 9? Could a major league pitcher throw a baseball off of the
asteroid?
Learning to Look
- Why can the object shown below be bolted in place and used 24 hours
a day without adjustment?
MASA/JSCLarry Mulvehill/The Image Works