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CHAPTER 1

UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION

Paper name: UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION PARTA

Series: Astronomy.

1.1 A HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

Humans have been pondering what clamps the massive bodies like the sun, moon and
stars in space. Why the moon revolves around the earth and the earth revolves around
the sun? The answer is Gravity.
The world’s first scientist who bequeathed the idea of gravity was Sir Isaac Newton. It
was a cold evening of sixteen sixty-five (1665) when Newton was trying to decipher the
furtive mystery that

“Why Planets Revolve Or Orbit Around The Sun?”

He was thinking, and then all of a sudden an apple fell from the tree under which he
was sitting. The awareness and indication of gravity twinkled his brain. He not only
discovered the reason behind the falling apple but then also the reason that makes the
planets to revolve around the sun and the moon around the earth.

1.1.1 The Force of Gravitation

On the foundation of his observations, Isaac Newton concluded that there is a

Universal Force, which causes an apple to fall on earth from the tree. Besides, the
same force keeps the moon and the planets in their orbits. Additionally, he established
that due to this force everybody in the universe attracts every other body. Newton
named this force the Force of Gravitation or Gravitational Force.
 Page 2 of 37

1.2 Newton’s law of Universal Gravitation

As stated above, Newton gave the name Gravity or Gravitational force to the force of
attraction between objects. Gravity does not confine to the earth’s surface but
encompasses throughout or all over the Universe.

He stated this conception in his law of Universal Gravitation.

Gm1 m 2
F=
m1 d
2
m2

F -F

Figure 1.1: Depicting the law of Universal Gravitation. Two masses m1 and m2
attract each other with a gravitational force of equal and opposite magnitude.

This law states that

“The Gravitational Force of attraction F between two bodies of masses m1 and m2
separated by a distance d is”

 Directly proportional to the product of their masses

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 And inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centres

Or

m 1 m2
F∝ 2
d

m 1 m2
F=G
d
2 …1.1

Here, G is the constant of proportionality. We call it, the Universal constant of

Gravitation. It has the same value everywhere.

In SI units, it has the value 6.673 * 10 -11 Nm2kg-2. Moreover, Sir Henry Cavendish had
determined this value using the torsion balance in 1798.

1.2.1 Matlab programs for the proof of Newton’s law of Universal Gravitation
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In this section, we shall write the following Matlab programs for the proof of Newton’s
law of Universal Gravitation.

Program number 1:

In this program, we shall demonstrate the fact that by increasing the distance between
the two bodies the gravitational force decreases. The program depicts this fact
 by plotting the gravitational force versus the distance
 by making a table of the gravitational force values and the distance values

So, open the Matlab Editor and write the following program

clc;
clear all;
close all;

% This program finds the Gravitational Force of Attraction between two

% bodies each having mass of 1000 kg.
% The bodies are separated by a distance of 1 metre.
% We increase this distance and plot the Gravitational force in Newtons
% vs distance in meter
% As we can see as the distance between the bodies increases the
% Gravitational force decreases.
% The program also draws a table depicting the Gravitational Force for
% various distances

clc;
clear all;
close all;

% Define the colours

charteuse = [0.498 1.00 0.000];

lime_green = [0.196 0.804 0.196];

% The masses of bodies in kilograms

m1 = 1000;

m2 = 1000;

% Universal Gravitational Constant

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G = 6.67e-11;

% Distance in meter

r = 1;

% Vector Defining the distances

rvec = r:1:15*r;

% Computation of Gravitational force.

F = (G *m1*m2)./ rvec.^2;

% Creating the figure

hfig = figure;

% Creating an axes object

haxes = axes;

% Draw the plot

plot(haxes, rvec,F, 'g:o',...

'LineWidth', 5,...
'MarkerSize', 14,...
'MarkerEdgeColor', 'k',...
'MarkerFaceColor', 'g');

% Set the title and labels.

title('\bf THE GRAVITATIONAL FORCE VS DISTANCE');

xlabel('\bf DISTANCE');

ylabel('\bf GRAVITATIONAL FORCE')

% set the colour property of figure.

set(hfig,...
'color', lime_green);

% Set the colour property of axes

set(haxes,...
'color' , charteuse)
 Page 6 of 37

grid on

% Create the table

T = table(rvec', F');

% Set the variable names of the table.

T.Properties.VariableNames(1) = {'DISTANCE(Metres)'};
T.Properties.VariableNames(2) = {'Gravitational Force(Newtons)'};

% Draw the table

disp('THE REQUIRED TABLE IS')

T
Run the program and get the following output.

THE REQUIRED TABLE IS

T=

15×2 table

DISTANCE(Metres) Gravitational Force(Newtons)

________________ ____________________________

1 6.67e-05
2 1.6675e-05
3 7.4111e-06
4 4.1687e-06
5 2.668e-06
6 1.8528e-06
7 1.3612e-06
8 1.0422e-06
 Page 7 of 37

9 8.2346e-07
10 6.67e-07
11 5.5124e-07
12 4.6319e-07
13 3.9467e-07
14 3.4031e-07
15 2.9644e-07

10-5 THE GRAVITATIONAL FORCE VS DISTANCE

7

6
GRAVITATIONAL FORCE

0
0 5 10 15
DISTANCE

Program No. 2:
 Page 8 of 37

In this program, we shall demonstrate the fact, that by decreasing the distance between
two bodies the Gravitational Force increases.
The program depicts this fact
 by plotting the distance versus the gravitational force
 by making a table of the gravitational force values and the distance values

So open the Matlab editor and write the following program.

% This program finds the distance between the two bodies of

% masses m1 and m2. When the Gravitational force between them
% is given.

% The program displays a graph of Distance vs The Gravitational Force

% The program also displays a Table depicting the various values of

% Distance for various values of the Gravitational force.

clc;
clear all;
close all;

% Masses of bodies in Kilograms.

m1 = 0.3;

m2 = 0.4;

% Gravitational Constant.

G = 6.67e-11;

% Gravitational Force.

F = 8.92e-11;

% The Vector describing the different values of Gravitational force.

Fvec = F:F:16*F;

% Computation of various values of Distance.

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r = sqrt((G*m1*m2)./Fvec);

% Draw the Graph.

plot(Fvec,r, 'g:o',...
'LineWidth', 3,...
'MarkerSize', 14,...
'MarkerEdgeColor', 'k',...
'MarkerFaceColor', 'g');

% Add the title and labels.

title('\bf The Distance vs The Gravitational Force')

xlabel('\bf The Gravitational Force')
ylabel('\bf The Distance')

grid on

% Create the table

T = table(Fvec', r');

% Set the variable names of the table.

T.Properties.VariableNames(1) = {'Gravitational Force(Newtons)'};

T.Properties.VariableNames(2) = {'DISTANCE(Metres)'};

% Draw the table

disp('THE REQUIRED TABLE IS')

Run the program and get the desired result.

THE REQUIRED TABLE IS

T=

16×2 table

Gravitational Force(Newtons) DISTANCE(Metres)

____________________________ ________________
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8.92e-11 0.29955
1.784e-10 0.21181
2.676e-10 0.17295
3.568e-10 0.14978
4.46e-10 0.13396
5.352e-10 0.12229
6.244e-10 0.11322
7.136e-10 0.10591
8.028e-10 0.09985
8.92e-10 0.094726
9.812e-10 0.090318
1.0704e-09 0.086473
1.1596e-09 0.083081
1.2488e-09 0.080058
1.338e-09 0.077344
1.4272e-09 0.074888
 Page 11 of 37

The Distance vs The Gravitational Force

0.3

0.25
The Distance

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05
0 0.5 1 1.5
The Gravitational Force -9
10

Program No. 3:

In this program, we shall demonstrate the fact that by increasing the product of masses
the gravitational force increases. The program depicts this fact
 by plotting the gravitational force versus the product of masses
 by making a table of the gravitational force values and the product of masses

So open the Matlab editor and write the following program

clc;
clear all;
close all;

% Declare the various masses as vectors.

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m1 = [0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 ];

m2 = [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ];

% Gravitational Constant

G = 6.67e-11;

% Distance between the bodies

r = 3e-1;

% product of Masses

product = m1.*m2;

% Computation of Gravitational Force.

F = (G.* product)./r.^2;

% Plot the Graph.

plot(product,F, 'g:o',...
'LineWidth', 3,...
'MarkerSize', 14,...
'MarkerEdgeColor', 'k',...
'MarkerFaceColor', 'g');

% Add title and labels

title('\bf The Gravitational Force Versus Product of Masses')

xlabel('\bf Product of Masses');

ylabel('\bf The Gravitational Force')

% Create the table

T = table(product', F');

% Set the variable names of the table.

T.Properties.VariableNames(1) = {'Product of Masses'};

T.Properties.VariableNames(2) = {'Gravitational Force(Newtons)'};

% Draw the table

disp('THE REQUIRED TABLE IS')

Run the program and get the desired result.

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THE REQUIRED TABLE IS

T=

10×2 table

Product of Masses Gravitational Force(Newtons)

_________________ ____________________________

0.1 7.4111e-11
0.4 2.9644e-10
0.9 6.67e-10
1.6 1.1858e-09
2.5 1.8528e-09
3.6 2.668e-09
4.9 3.6314e-09
6.4 4.7431e-09
8.1 6.003e-09
10 7.4111e-09
 Page 14 of 37

10-9 The Gravitational Force Versus Product of Masses

8

6
The Gravitational Force

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Product of Masses

1.3 Finding the Magnitude of Gravitational Force Experienced By a Person of

Mass m on Different Celestial Bodies

In this section, we shall write a program that will find for us the magnitude of
Gravitational Force experienced by a body of mass m kilograms on the following
celestial bodies.

 Mercury
 Venus
 Earth
 Moon
 Mars
 Jupiter
 Saturn
 Uranus
 Neptune
 Pluto
 Page 15 of 37

So open the Matlab Editor and write the following program.

clc;
clear all;

% This program finds the Gravitational Force experienced

% by a body of mass m on the surface of the following
% celestial bodies.

% 1) Mercury
% 2) Venus
% 3) Earth
% 4) Moon
% 5) Mars
% 6) Jupiter
% 7) Saturn
% 8) Uranus
% 9) Neptune
% 10)Pluto

% Universal Gravitational Constant

G = 6.67e-11;

% First enter the mass m of a person.

m = input('Enter the mass of person in Kilograms\n m = ');

% Enter the following choices.

fprintf('Enter the following choices\n')

fprintf(' 1) For finding the Gravitational Force experienced by person on
MERCURY\n')
fprintf(' 2) For finding the Gravitational Force experienced by person on
VENUS\n')
fprintf(' 3) For finding the Gravitational Force experienced by person on
EARTH\n')
fprintf(' 4) For finding the Gravitational Force experienced by person on
MOON\n')
fprintf(' 5) For finding the Gravitational Force experienced by person on
MARS\n')
fprintf(' 6) For finding the Gravitational Force experienced by person on
JUPITER\n')
fprintf(' 7) For finding the Gravitational Force experienced by person on
SATURN\n')
fprintf(' 8) For finding the Gravitational Force experienced by person on
URANUS\n')
fprintf(' 9) For finding the Gravitational Force experienced by person on
NEPTUNE\n')
fprintf(' 10) For finding the Gravitational Force experienced by person on
PLUTO\n')
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% Please input your choice

ch = input('Please input your choice\n ch = ');

switch ch

case 1

% Mass of Mercury

mM = 0.33e24;

% Radius of Mercury in Meters

rM = 2439500;

% Computation of Gravitational Force

F = (G * m * mM) / rM^2;

% Print the output.

fprintf('\n The Gravitational Force experienced by person of mass %.3f

KGs on MECURY is %.3e Newton \n', m, F);

case 2

% Mass of Venus

mV = 4.87e24;

% Radius of Mercury in Meters

rV = 6052000;

% Computation of Gravitational Force

F = (G * m * mV) / rV^2;

% Print the output.

fprintf('\n The Gravitational Force experienced by person of mass %.3f

KGs on VENUS is %.3e Newton \n', m, F);

case 3

% Mass of Earth

mE = 6e24;

% Radius of Earth in Meters

rE = 6378000;
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% Computation of Gravitational Force

F = (G * m * mE) / rE^2;

% Print the output.

fprintf('\n The Gravitational Force experienced by person of mass %.3f

KGs on EARTH is %.3e Newton \n', m, F);

case 4

% Mass of Moon

mMoon = 0.073e24;

% Radius of Moon in Meters

rMoon = 1737500;

% Computation of Gravitational Force

F = (G * m * mMoon) / rMoon^2;

% Print the output.

fprintf('\n The Gravitational Force experienced by person of mass %.3f

KGs on MOON is %.3e Newton \n', m, F);

case 5

% Mass of Mars

mMars = 0.642e24;

% Radius of Mercury in Meters

rMars = 3396000;

% Computation of Gravitational Force

F = (G * m * mMars) / rMars^2;

% Print the output.

fprintf('\n The Gravitational Force experienced by person of mass %.3f

KGs on MARS is %.3e Newton \n', m, F);

case 6

% Mass of Jupiter

mJ = 1898e24;
 Page 18 of 37

% Radius of Jupiter in Meters

rJ = 71492000;

% Computation of Gravitational Force

F = (G * m * mJ) / rJ^2;

% Print the output.

fprintf('\n The Gravitational Force experienced by person of mass %.3f

KGs on JUPITER is %.3e Newton \n', m, F);

case 7

% Mass of Saturn

mS = 568e24;

% Radius of Saturn in Meters

rS = 60268000;

% Computation of Gravitational Force

F = (G * m * mS) / rS^2;

% Print the output.

fprintf('\n The Gravitational Force experienced by person of mass %.3f

KGs on SATURN is %.3e Newton \n', m, F);

case 8

% Mass of Uranus

mU = 86.8e24;

% Radius of uranus in Meters

rU = 25559000;

% Computation of Gravitational Force

F = (G * m * mU) / rU^2;

% Print the output.

fprintf('\n The Gravitational Force experienced by person of mass %.3f

KGs on URANUS is %.3e Newton \n', m, F);

case 9

% Mass of Neptune
 Page 19 of 37

mN = 102e24;

% Radius of Neptune in Meters

rN = 24764000;

% Computation of Gravitational Force

F = (G * m * mN) / rN^2;

% Print the output.

fprintf('\n The Gravitational Force experienced by person of mass %.3f

KGs on NEPTUNE is %.3e Newton \n', m, F);

case 10

% Mass of Pluto

mP = 0.0146e24;

% Radius of Pluto in Meters

rP = 1185000;

% Computation of Gravitational Force

F = (G * m * mP) / rP^2;

% Print the output.

fprintf('\n The Gravitational Force experienced by person of mass %.3f

KGs on PLUTO is %.3e Newton \n', m, F);

end

Run the program as follows and get the desired result.

Enter the mass of person in Kilograms

m = 100
Enter the following choices
1) For finding the Gravitational Force experienced by person on MERCURY
2) For finding the Gravitational Force experienced by person on VENUS
3) For finding the Gravitational Force experienced by person on EARTH
4) For finding the Gravitational Force experienced by person on MOON
5) For finding the Gravitational Force experienced by person on MARS
6) For finding the Gravitational Force experienced by person on JUPITER
7) For finding the Gravitational Force experienced by person on SATURN
8) For finding the Gravitational Force experienced by person on URANUS
9) For finding the Gravitational Force experienced by person on NEPTUNE
10) For finding the Gravitational Force experienced by person on PLUTO
Please input your choice
 Page 20 of 37

ch = 10

The Gravitational Force experienced by person of mass 100.000 KGs on PLUTO is

6.935e+01 Newton

1.4 GRAVITATIONAL FIELD of EARTH

By utilizing the Newton’s law of Gravitation, we can deduce that the Gravitational Force
between a body of mass m and the Earth as follows

m Me
F=G r
2

In the above equation Me is the mass of Earth, m is the mass of the body and r is the
distance of the body from the centre of the Earth.

In our early Physics courses, we had defined the weight of a body as follows.

“The force with which Earth attracts a body of mass m towards its centre is called the
weight of the body”

This weight of the body is due to the Gravitational Force of the Earth with which it
attracts a body towards its centre. This Gravitational Force is a non-contact force.
For example, when we throw a ball upwards, the velocity of ball goes on decreasing and
while on return to Earth, its velocity goes on increasing. This is due to the Gravitational
Force of the Earth acting on the body whether it is in contact with Earth or not.
We call such a force the Field Force. We have assumed that this field force the
Gravitational Field exists all around the Earth.

Some characteristics of this Earth’s Gravitational Force Field are the following.

 The Gravitational Force Field directs towards the centre of Earth.

 The Gravitational Force Field gets stronger as it gets closer to earth’s surface
and becomes frailer and frailer as we go far away from Earth.

Now, we shall write a program in Matlab that will plot the Gravitational Force Field for us
 Page 21 of 37

So open the Matlab editor and write the following program.

clc;
clear all;
close all;

hfig = figure;

haxes = axes;

[x,y,z] = meshgrid(-1.5:1.5, -1.5:1.5,-1.5:1.5);

dx = -x./power(x.^2 + y.^2 + z.^2,3/2);

dy = -y./power(x.^2 + y.^2 + z.^2,3/2);

dz = -z./power(x.^2 + y.^2 + z.^2,3/2);

dxu = dx./sqrt(dx.^2 + dy.^2 + dz.^2);

dyu = dy./sqrt(dx.^2 + dy.^2 + dz.^2);
dzu = dz./sqrt(dx.^2 + dy.^2 + dz.^2);

quiver3(x,y,z,dxu,dyu,dzu, 'g', 'linewidth', 1)

set(hfig, 'color', 'g')

set(haxes, 'color', 'y')

% Set the title and labels.

title('\bf The Gravitational Force Field')

xlabel('\bf The x-axis')

ylabel('\bf The y-axis')

zlabel('\bf The z-axis')

grid on
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Run the program and get the following plot.

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1.5 Finding all the variables in Newton’s law of Universal Gravitation.

Let us now write a program in Matlab that will find for us all the variables in Newton’s
law of Universal Gravitation.
So open the Matlab editor and write the following program.

% Newton's law of Gravitation.

% Finding all the variables in Newton's law of Universal Gravitation.
% Enter the force in Newtons.
% Enter the mass in Kilograms.
% Enter the distance in meters.

clc;
clear all;

%Define the universal gravitation constant.

G = 6.67e-11;

fprintf('Enter the following choices\n\n');

disp('1) For finding the Gravitational attraction between two masses')

disp('2) For finding the distance between two masses')
disp('3) For finding the mass m when masses are equal ')
disp('4) For finding the mass m1 ')
disp('5) For finding the mass m2 ')

ch = input('\nEnter your choice\n ch = ');

switch ch

case 1 % For finding the Gravitational Attraction between masses

% F = Gm1m2/r^2

m1 = input('Enter the mass of first object\n m1 = ');

m2 = input('Enter the mass of second object\n m2 = ');
r = input('Enter the distance between two objects\n r = ');

F = (G * m1 * m2) / r^2;

fprintf('The Gravitational Force of attraction between two objects is

%.4e\n', F);

case 2 % For finding the distance between masses.

% r = sqrt((Gm1m2)/F)
 Page 24 of 37

m1 = input('Enter the mass of first object\n m1 = ');

m2 = input('Enter the mass of second object\n m2 = ');
F = input('Enter the Gravitational Attraction Force between
objects\n F = ');

r = sqrt((G*m1*m2)/F);

fprintf('The distance between the objects is %.3e meters\n', r);

case 3 % For finding the mass when the objects have equal masses
% m = sqrt((F*r.^2)/G)

F = input('Enter the force of attraction between the objects\n F =

');
r = input('Enter the distance between objects\n r = ');

m = sqrt((F*r.^2)/G);

fprintf('The mass of objects is %.3e kilograms\n', m)

case 4 %For finding the mass m1

% m1 = Fr^2/Gm2

F = input('Enter the force of attraction between two masses\n F

=');
r = input('Enter the distance between objects\n r = ');
m2 = input('Enter the mass of second object\n m2 = ');

m1 = (F*r.^2)/(G*m2);

fprintf('The mass of first object is %.3e\n ', m1)

case 5 % For finding the mass m2

% m2 = Fr^2/Gm1

F = input('Enter the force of attraction between two masses\n F =

');
r = input('Enter the distance between two objects\n r = ');
m1 = input('Enter the mass of first object\n m1 = ');

m2 = (F*r^2)/(G*m1);

fprintf('The mass of second object is %.3e\n ', m2)

end

Run the program and get the desired results.

 Page 25 of 37

1.6 Acceleration due to gravity and Gravitational field strength

Acceleration due to gravity is acceleration achieved by a body due to Gravitational
Force. Its SI unit is m/s2.

And

The gravitational field, or gravitational field strength is the force exerted by gravity on an
object per unit mass of the object:

g = Fg / m = GmE / r2

The above equation shows that gravitational field strength depends on only mass and
distance. In particular, on the surface of any planet, the value of g will depend on the
planet’s mass and radius.

Note: The gravitational field strength equals acceleration due to gravity or free-fall
acceleration. On Earth, a free-falling object will have an acceleration of 9.8m/s2.

1.6.1 A program for finding acceleration due to gravity.

Let us write a program in MATLAB that will find for us the acceleration due to gravity on
any planet.

So open the MATLAB editor and write the following program.

clc;
clear all
close all

% This program finds the acceleration due to gravity on any planet.

% Define the UNIVERSAL GRAVITATIONAL CONSTANT G.

 Page 26 of 37

G = 6.67e-11;

mp = input('Enter the mass of planet\n mp = ');

rp = input('Enter the radius of planet\n rp = ');

g = (G * mp)/rp^2;

fprintf('\n The acceleration due to gravity on Planet is %.3f m/s^2 \n', g);

1.6 Orbital Speed of an Artificial Satellite.

An artificial satellite revolves around the Earth. The gravitational force of the earth
provides the necessary centripetal force. And centripetal force is a force that keeps a
body moving in a circle.

Thus, for a satellite of mass m moving with speed v in a circular orbit of the Radius R
measured from the center of the Earth. We have a centripetal force equal to
gravitational force and equating them.

= GMm
2
mv
2
R R

Where M is the mass of the Earth.

This leads us to derive the expression for the orbital speed of a satellite.

v = √ G RM E

As we can see the orbital speed of a satellite is independent of the mass of the satellite
and varies inversely with the radii of a satellite.
 Page 27 of 37

Let us now write a program in MATLAB that will find the orbital speeds of a satellite at
various radii of a satellite. The program will also plot the orbital speeds vs radii of a
satellite.

So open the MATLAB editor and write the following program.

clc;
clear all;
close all;

% This program finds the Orbital Speeds of satellite at various radii

% Define the Universal Gravitational Constant and other constants.

G = 6.67e-11;

% Mass of Earth.

Me = 5.972e24;

% Radius of Earth.

Re = 6.38e6;

% Enter the height of satellite above earth.

h = input('Enter the height of satellite as a vector \n h = ');

% Radiuses of Satellite orbit.

Rs = Re + h;

% Find the orbital speeds of satellite.

v = sqrt((G* Me)./Rs);

% Create the table

T = table(Rs', v');

% Set the variable names of the table.

T.Properties.VariableNames(1) = {'Radii or Radiuses of Satellite in metres'};

T.Properties.VariableNames(2) = {'Orbital Speed of Satellite in m/s'};

% Draw the table

disp('THE REQUIRED TABLE IS')

 Page 28 of 37

% Plot the orbital speed vs radii of satellites.

plot(Rs,v, 'g', 'linewidth', 5)

title('\bf Orbital Speed varies inversely with radii of orbiting satellite');

xlabel('\bf Radii of satellites');

ylabel('\bf Orbital Speeds of Satellite')

Run the program as follows and get the desired results.

Enter the height of satellite as a vector

h = [1000e3 2000e3 3000e3 4000e3 5000e3]

THE REQUIRED TABLE IS

T=

5×2 table

Radii or Radiuses of Satellite in metres Orbital Speed of Satellite in m/s

________________________________________
_________________________________

7.38e+06 7346.7

8.38e+06 6894.5
 Page 29 of 37

9.38e+06 6516.6

1.038e+07 6194.8

1.138e+07 5916.3

Orbital Speed varies inversely with radii of orbiting satellite

7400

7200
Orbital Speeds of Satellite

7000

6800

6600

6400

6200

6000

5800
7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10 10.5 11 11.5
Radii of satellites 106

1.7 Finding the period of one revolution of satellite in days

The time for a satellite to make one complete revolution of the earth is called the period
of a satellite.

It is given by the relation.

circumference of earth
T= speed

2 πr
T= v
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Let us now write a program in MATLAB that will find for us the period of satellite that is
one complete revolution around the earth in days.

So open the MATLAB editor and write the following program.

clc;
clear all
close all

% Define the constants

% Universal Gravitational constant.

G = 6.67e-11;

% Mass of Earth.

Me = 6e24;

% Radius of earth in km.

R = 6400e3;

h = input('Enter the distance of satellite from earths surface in kms\n h =

');

r = R + h;

% Find the speed of satellite in km/s

v = sqrt((G*Me)/(r));

% Find the velocity in km/s

v_in_km = v/1000;

% Find the period of satellite in days that is divide by 86400.

T = (2*pi*r)/(v*86400);

% Print the results.

fprintf('\nThe period of satellite is %.5f days when its speed is %.3f km/s\
n', T, v_in_km);

Run the program as follows and get the desired result.

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Enter the distance of satellite from earths surface in kms

h = 384000e3

The period of satellite is 28.04092 days when its speed is 1.012 km/s

1.8 The work required to lift a satellite of mass m to a circular orbit

Let us first define total mechanical energy.

The total amount of mechanical energy is simply the sum of the potential energy and
the kinetic energy. This sum is simply referred to as the total mechanical energy
(abbreviated TME). TME = PE + KE.

The work required to lift a satellite in a circular orbit is the difference between E 2 the
total mechanical energy when the satellite is in orbit and E1 the total mechanical energy
when the satellite is at rest at the launching site.

Now, we know from the PHYSICS courses that Kinetic Energy is the energy possessed
by a body due to its motion. And is given by the relation.

K.E = 1/2mv2

Where m is the mass of the body and v is its velocity.

We also know that the expression for the gravitational potential energy of a body
situated at a distance r from the earth is

P.E = - GMm/r

Now work required is

W = E2-E1 = 1/2m(v2 – ve) + GMm(1/r – 1/R)

In the above equation, v is the speed of the satellite

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ve is the speed of the earth which is 463.24m/s

r is the radius of Earth.

R is the radius of the satellite in orbit.

Let us now write a program in MATLAB that will calculate the above work for us.

So open the MATLAB editor and write the following program.

clc;
clear all;
close all;

% This program finds the work required in lifting a satellite from earth to
% its orbit.

% Define the constants

% Universal gravitational constant.

G = 6.67e-11;

% Radius of Earth

re = 6.37e6;

% Mass of Earth

Me = 5.972e24;

% Speed of earth

ve = 463.24;
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m = input('Enter the mass of satellite in kgs\n m = ');

v = input('Enter the speed of satellite\n v = ');

h = input('Enter the height of Satellite\n h = ');

% Radius of satellite

R = re+h;

Wterm1 = ((0.5 * m) * (v^2 - ve^2));

Wterm2 = (G*Me*m)*(1/re - 1/R);

W = Wterm1 + Wterm2;

fprintf('\nThe Work required to lift the satellite of mass %.3f kgs to a

circular orbit of %.3e metres is %.3e Joules\n ', m , R, W)

Run the program as follows and get the result.

Enter the mass of satellite in kgs

m = 190

Enter the speed of satellite

v = 7507

Enter the height of Satellite

h = 700e3

The Work required to lift the satellite of mass 190.000 kgs to a circular orbit of
7.070e+06 metres is 6.510e+09 Joules

(End of PART A)
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