Practice portal › Gravitation › Satellite Motion
Asked in AIEEE 2002 · Orbital velocity
A satellite moves in a circle only because gravity keeps bending its velocity towards the earth.
Remove the force and Newton's first law takes over, so it travels in a straight line at constant speed.
At the moment the force stops, its velocity is along the tangent to the orbit.
So it flies off tangentially with the same speed it already had.
Reading this solution needs no sign-in. You only sign in to practise against the clock and keep your progress.
Practise this with a timer