Question

Hey y'all! So I have a test tomorrow and really need help on this question! Please help me!
The Centripetal acceleration of the satellite is approximately...

Answer 1

And please explain why! :)

Answer 2

You know the equation for centrepedal acceleration?
\[a=v^2/r\]
here a is acceleration, v is velocity of the object, here satellite, r is the radius of circular motion, here R+h

Answer 3

what is h?

Answer 4

nvm lol but why r+h

Answer 5

Cause.. r is usually the distance from the CENTRE of the earth
if the distance is faarrrr away.. like for example u were calculating acceleration of the earth revolving around sun, then we could neglect the size of the sun.. (150 million kilometer is way bigger than 0.7 million kilometers right?)
but in ur problem, the altitude is comparable to the size of the earth.. infact smaller :P
hence u need to consider the radius of earth!

Answer 6

Also...I would say since the acceleration acts towards the center of the circular path you would need to use r+h since the earth and the path are concentric (they share the same radius)