Radial Velocity of the Sun around Galactic Centre

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on calculating the radial velocity of the Sun around the Galactic Centre, highlighting a common error in applying Newton's Laws of Gravitation. The user initially calculated a velocity of 0.733 m/s using the mass of the Sun, but the correct value is 220,000 m/s. The key mistake identified is the misapplication of mass; the calculation should utilize the mass of the galaxy instead of the Sun. The relevant parameters include the mass of the Sun (1.99 x 10^30 kg), gravitational constant (G = 6.67 x 10^-11 Nm^2kg^-2), and the distance from the Galactic Centre (8.0 kpc or 2.47 x 10^20 m).

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  • Familiarity with gravitational constant (G)
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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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