- #1
tjhero123
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Homework Statement
A 100 kg satellite is surrounded by four asteroids. Asteroid A has a mass of 8.5x10^5 kg and is 800 km North of the satellite. Asteroid D has a mass of 9.0x10^4 kg and is 500 km West of the satellite. Asteroid B is 1200 km south of the satellite and asteroid C is 1500 km East of the satellite. The satellite is in equillibrium.
A) What are the masses of asteroids B and C?
B) What is the gravitational force between asteroids B and C?
C) Describe how the satellite would move if asteroid A was suddenly removed.
Homework Equations
Pythagorean theorem
F=(Gm1m2)/(r^2)
G=6.67384x 10^-11 m^3 kg^-1 s^-2
The Attempt at a Solution
Honestly I have no idea. My inital idea was to create right triangles between A and D to find the distance between them and use Newtons universal gravitation equation to calculate the force due to gravity in that area. Then i thought i could use that value for the other asteroids and make right triangles with them to do the same thing except solving for masses instead. But I am not sure if that would be correct. I assume this is the process used to find the answer to B though. But i need the masses first. Am i on the right track by using right triangles? For C, I was thinking that maybe the satellite would move towards the center of the triangle formed by asteroids B,C , and D and become an incenter of that traingle or something. Any help would be nice. thanks in advance :)