Question: The moon Phobos moves around the planet Mars in a circular orbit. ( a ) Outline why the gravitational force does no work on Phobos.
The moon Phobos moves around the planet Mars in a circular orbit.
a Outline why the gravitational force does no work on Phobos.
The orbital period of a moon orbiting a planet of mass is given by:
where is the average distance between the center of the planet and the center of the moon.
b Show that
The following data for the MarsPhobos system and the EarthMoon system are available:
Mass of Earth
The EarthMoon distance is times the MarsPhobos distance.
The orbital period of the Moon is times the orbital period of Phobos.
c Calculate, in kg the mass of Mars.
The graph shows the variation of the gravitational potential between the Earth and Moon with distance from the center of the Earth. The distance from the Earth is expressed as a fraction of the total distance between the center of the Earth and the center of the Moon.
d Determine, using the graph, the mass of the Moon.
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