College Physics (4th Edition)

Published by McGraw-Hill Education
ISBN 10: 0073512141
ISBN 13: 978-0-07351-214-3

Chapter 6 - Problems - Page 229: 45

Answer

The escape speed from this planet would be $22.4~km/s$

Work Step by Step

If the radius was twice the size of Earth's radius then the planet would have 8 times the volume. Since the density is the same, the planet's mass would be $8~M_E$. We can find the escape speed from this planet: $v_e = \sqrt{\frac{2~G~(8M_E)}{2R_E}}$ $v_e = 2~\sqrt{\frac{2~G~M_E}{R_E}}$ $v_e = (2)~(11.2~km/s)$ $v_e = 22.4~km/s$ The escape speed from this planet would be $22.4~km/s$.
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