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A rotating satellite has the same angular velocity as the earth. If the satellite is 5x10^7 m from the center of the earth, what is its tangential velocity

Verified Answer :

We will want to be using radians for this question so that we can calculate arc lengths easily.

The angular velocity of the earth is \(360^{o}/24\ hr=\frac{2\pi}{24\ hr}=\frac{\pi}{12}/hr\)

The satellite tangential velocity is the distance from the earth times the angular velocity, which is
\(5\times10^{7}\ m*\frac{\pi}{12}/hr\approx1.309\times10^{7}\ m/hr\)

For meters per second, we divide by the number of seconds in an hour, which is 3600:
\(1.309\times10^{7}\ m/hr*\frac{1\ hr}{3600\ s}\approx3636\ m/s\)