Suppose that Nolan Ryan stands on the surface of the moon and throws a baseball

Question

Suppose that Nolan Ryan stands on the surface of the moon and throws a baseball horizontally. If the baseball has a high enough speed and does not strike any mountain, it can orbit around the moon and, after completing the orbit, strike Nolan from behind. The mass of the moon is mm = 7.35×1022 kg, and its radius is rm = 1740 km. The gravitation constant G = 6.67×10-11 Nm2/kg2.

1)
Find the speed at which Nolan must throw the ball for such a circular orbit.

v =


2)
How long (in hours) does the ball take to complete one orbit?
t =

Explanation / Answer

a) so for that to happen G mball mmoon /r^2 = mball v^2 /r so v^2= G mmoon/r so v=sqrt(6.67E-11*7.36E22/1740E3)=1680 m/s b) T= 2 pi r/v = 2 * pi * 1740E3/1680=6508 sec = 1.81 hours

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