Radial Velocity of the Sun around Galactic Centre

AI Thread Summary
The calculation of the Sun's radial velocity around the Galactic Center is incorrectly using the mass of the Sun instead of the mass of the galaxy. The formula mv^2/r = -GMm/r^2 should apply the galaxy's mass (M) for accurate results. The correct radial velocity of the Sun is approximately 220,000 m/s, significantly higher than the calculated 0.733 m/s. The error arises from misunderstanding which mass to use in the gravitational equation. Properly substituting the galaxy's mass will yield the expected velocity.
anyaxo
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I need to calculate the radial velocity of the sun. Every time I try using Newton's Laws of Gravitation, I end up getting a value of 0.733 m/s. Apparently the actual value is 220000 m/s.

Mass of Sun = 1.99 x 10^30 kg (3sf)
G = 6.67 x 10^-11 Nm^2kg^-2
r = distance of Sun from galactic centre = 8.0 kpc = 2.47 x 10^20 m

mv^2/r = -GMm/r^2
v^2 = GM/r

v^2 = (6.67 x 10^-11 (1.99 x 10^30))/(2.47 x 10^20)
= 0.537...
v = 0.733 m/s (3sf)

What am I doing wrong?! This is driving me insane.
 
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since sun is rotating around the center of the galaxy, m would be the mass of the sun.
it gets canceled here. so M is actually mass of the galaxy and not the sun.
 
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