A launch vehicle leaves Earth’s surface with a speed of and then ceases to fire its…

PHYSICS · Multi-part · A Level · Physics · Fields and their consequences · Fields and their consequences

Problem

A launch vehicle leaves Earth’s surface with a speed of

9.2\,\text{km s}^{-1}

and then ceases to fire its engines. Take

G = 6.67\times10^{-11}\,\text{N m}^2\text{kg}^{-2}

, Earth’s mass

= 6.0\times10^{24}\,\text{kg}

and Earth’s radius

= 6.4\times10^{6}\,\text{m}

. Ignore air resistance. (i) Determine the minimum speed required for an object to leave Earth’s gravitational field from the surface. (ii) Express the given speed of the launch vehicle as a percentage of the value calculated in part (i). (iii) State, with a brief reason, whether the vehicle will be able to escape Earth’s gravity without further propulsion.

Related theory

Escape Velocity
Gravitation
Escape speed

Browse the problem library