Physics > Gravitation > 6.0 Satellites

  Gravitation
    1.0 Newton's law of gravitation
    2.0 Variation of acceleration due to gravity
    3.0 Gravitational field
    4.0 Gravitational potential
    5.0 Gravitational potential energy
    6.0 Satellites
    7.0 Kepler's law of planetary motion
    8.0 Problem solving technique

6.8 Weightlessness

It is a situation in which the effective weight of the body becomes zero.

Consider a satellite of mass $m$ moving around the earth in a circle of radius $r$ with velocity $v$ as shown in the figure.


For circular motion, $$\frac{{GMm}}{{{r^2}}} = \frac{{m{v^2}}}{r}$$

So, $$F_{net}=0$$ Also, the net force is zero for the astronaut inside the space satellite. So, it experiences weightlessness in a space satellite.

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