At an altitude above Earth’s surface

PHYSICS · Single correct · A Level · Physics · Fields and their consequences · Fields and their consequences

Problem

At an altitude

h

above Earth’s surface, a spacecraft of mass

m

is attracted by Earth with force

F_1

. When it rises to altitude

3h

, the force drops to

\dfrac{F_1}{4}

. Taking Earth’s radius as

R_E

, the altitude

h

is (a)

0.5\,R_E

(b)

\dfrac{1}{3}\,R_E

(c)

R_E

(d)

0.2\,R_E