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Josielle Abdilla
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What is the kinetic energy equal to during the escape velocity? Henceforth, what is exactly happening at the escape velocity in terms of gravity?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_velocityJosielle Abdilla said:What is the kinetic energy equal to during the escape velocity? Henceforth, what is exactly happening at the escape velocity in terms of gravity?
Josielle Abdilla said:What is the kinetic energy equal to during the escape velocity? Henceforth, what is exactly happening at the escape velocity in terms of gravity?
I would add that escape velocity decreases as altitude increases.Drakkith said:Escape velocity is simply the velocity required for an object to escape the gravitational pull of a body, ignoring complications like air resistance and other gravitational-influencing bodies (Sun, Moon, other planets, etc). There is no 'during'. Escape velocity is not an event.
Nothing is happening to gravity in the context of escape velocity. The object is simply traveling so fast that the gravitational acceleration of the larger body cannot decelerate the object at a fast enough rate to ever pull the object back to the surface.
Note that this is using the definition of potential energy such that an object has zero potential at infinity, and increasingly negative potential as it approaches a massive object. This is a common definition, but certainly not the only definition, so you need to be a bit careful there.Janus said:The KE of an mass at escape velocity is such that when its added to the gravitational potential energy of the mass, the result is zero.
In other words:
$$ \frac{mv^2}{2} - \frac{GMm}{r} = 0 $$
Thus:
$$ \frac{mv^2}{2} = \frac{GMm}{r} $$
$$ v^2 = \frac{2GM}{r} $$
Escape velocity is the minimum speed an object needs to reach in order to break free from the gravitational pull of a celestial body, such as a planet or moon.
The formula for escape velocity is v = √(2GM/r), where v is the escape velocity, G is the gravitational constant, M is the mass of the celestial body, and r is the distance from the center of the body to the object.
Yes, the escape velocity of an object is directly proportional to its mass. This means that the larger the mass of the object, the higher the escape velocity required to break free from the gravitational pull.
No, an object cannot have a kinetic energy greater than its escape velocity. This is because the escape velocity is the minimum speed required to overcome the gravitational force, and any additional kinetic energy would result in the object moving away from the celestial body at an even faster speed.
Once an object reaches escape velocity, its kinetic energy remains constant. However, as it moves away from the celestial body, its potential energy increases due to the decreasing gravitational force. This results in a balance between kinetic and potential energy, allowing the object to travel through space at a constant speed.