Astronomers use a telescope to watch a small moon orbit a planet in our solar system. They find that it takes the moon 14 days to go around the planet once, and they estimate the radius of the moon's orbit is about 4.2 x 107 meters. a. From this information, estimate the mass of the planet. b. Using the mass you found in part (a), estimate the free-fall acceleration on the planet's surface if it has a radius of 3.8 x 105 meters.

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Chapter6: Uniform Circular Motion And Gravitation
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Problem 49PE: Unreasonable Results (a) Based on Kepler's laws and information on the orbital characteristics of...
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4. Astronomers use a telescope to watch a small moon orbit a planet in our solar system. They find
that it takes the moon 14 days to go around the planet once, and they estimate the radius of the
moon's orbit is about 4.2 x 10² meters.
a. From this information, estimate the mass of the planet.
b.
Using the mass you found in part (a), estimate the free-fall acceleration on the planet's
surface if it has a radius of 3.8 x 106 meters.
Transcribed Image Text:4. Astronomers use a telescope to watch a small moon orbit a planet in our solar system. They find that it takes the moon 14 days to go around the planet once, and they estimate the radius of the moon's orbit is about 4.2 x 10² meters. a. From this information, estimate the mass of the planet. b. Using the mass you found in part (a), estimate the free-fall acceleration on the planet's surface if it has a radius of 3.8 x 106 meters.
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