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infirmus
Mar31-05, 05:59 AM
I've got a question in front of me that asks to find the escape velocity for a hypothetical celestial object that has the same density as the sun.

MC answers are -
1)2.51 x 10^3 m/s
2)6.18 x 10^5 m/s
3)3.08 x 10^5 m/s
4)5.42 x 10^10 m/s

As far as I can work out its not possible to find an escape velocity while only knowing the density. I can work out that

v = 8.873 x 10^-4 x r

but not find actual v without knowing the radius.

HallsofIvy
Mar31-05, 07:02 AM
You are right. The "escape velocity" depends upon the mass not the density.

If you are not given the radius of the object as well as the density, you cannot find the mass.

SpaceTiger
Mar31-05, 07:19 AM
I've got a question in front of me that asks to find the escape velocity for a hypothetical celestial object that has the same density as the sun.

This is a silly question (on their part). If they want you to also assume that it has the same radius as the sun, and you do need a radius to solve this problem, then answer is B. If that is what they want, though, they might as well have asked what the escape velocity from the surface of the sun was.