Student Activity
Energy

  1. The Space Shuttle's orbital speed is about 7.8 km/s and its mass is (typically) 180 metric tonnes. Calculate the kinetic energy of the Space Shuttle in orbit.

  2. One metric tonne of TNT contains 4.2 x 109 joules of energy.

    1. What mass of TNT would be equivalent to the kinetic energy of the space shuttle in orbit?

    2. Given that the kinetic energy of the space shuttle is zero when it is at rest on the landing runway, what happened to the kinetic energy?

  3. Calculate the binding kinetic energy of a one kilogram mass on the surface of the Moon.

  4. Calculate the binding potential energy of a one kilogram mass on the surface of the Earth.

  5. Since the initial kinetic energy of a launched mass must be exactly equal to the binding kinetic energy of the mass, calculate the velocity needed for a one kilogram mass to
    1. escape from the Earth's surface (to infinity).

    2. escape from the Moon's surface (to infinity).

  6. What would be the eccentricity of these orbits/trajectories?

Kinetic Energy

KE = 1/2 mv2

Gravitational Binding Energy

PE = -GMm/r
G = 6.67 x 10-11 Nm2/kg2
Radius of the Earth =6.40x106 m
Mass of the Earth = 5.97 x 1024 kg
Mass of the Moon = 7.17 x 1022 kg
Radius of the Moon =1.74 x 106 m
Mass of Mars = 6.35 x 1023 kg
Radius of Mars = 3.40 x 106 m

Home | Information for Teachers | Gravity | Escape to Infinity | Low Earth Orbit | Ground Tracks | Geosynchronous Satellites | Conic Sections | Energy | Manoeuvring in Space

Prepared by YES I Can! Science