I had to do a problem, and part of it was to find the mechanical energy of satellite orbiting around mars, and I had all of the information I needed. I thought the total mechanical energy would be the kinetic energy+ the potential energy, or $KE+PE$. However, I had the answer sheet and it said that I had to do $KE-PE$, because when you integrate $Gm_1m_2/r^2$ you get a negative sign. I can see why it works out mathematically, but I don't understand why you are actually losing energy when orbiting in a gravitational field.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
-
A rook stands in the lower left corner of an $m\times n$ chessboard. Alice and Bob alternately move the rook (horizontally or vertically, th...
-
I am researching Mercury's orbital precession. I have considered most perturbations and general relativity. I am still not satisfied. I ...
-
I am having trouble understanding how centripetal force works intuitively. This is my claim. When I have a mass strapped on a string and spi...
-
(The puzzle statement now identifies these numbers as equivalent.) O O ...
-
In this question/answer Does someone falling into a black hole see the end of the universe? , it is stated that an observer free falling tow...
-
Yesterday, I understood what it means to say that the moon is constantly falling (from a lecture by Richard Feynman ). In the picture below ...
-
This is proof that $L'$ represents same equation of motion with $L$ through Lagrange eq. I understand $L'$ satisfies Lagrange eq, bu...
No comments:
Post a Comment