Name: _______________________________________________

PYQ on Gravitation
 

 
Date:
 
 
 
 
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Questions

Q1.
 
The International Space Station (ISS) is an artificial satellite in a low Earth orbit.

The ISS has a mass of 4.19 × 105 kg and orbits at a height of 4.10 × 105 m above the surface of the Earth
in a circular orbit.
radius of Earth = 6.37 × 106 m
mass of Earth = 5.98 × 1024 kg
(a) Calculate the time taken for the ISS to complete one orbit of the Earth.
(3)
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Time taken = ...........................................................

(b)  Calculate the gravitational field strength exerted by the Earth at the height of the ISS.
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Gravitational field strength = ...........................................................

(c)  Astronauts on board the ISS experience apparent weightless conditions.

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(Total for question = 7 marks)
 

Q2.
 
Navstar 1 was a navigation satellite placed in a circular orbit about the Earth in 1978.
It was the first Global Positioning System satellite to be launched.

(a)  (i)  Show that the orbital time T for a satellite in a circular orbit of radius r about the Earth of mass M is
given by

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(ii)  The plane of the satellite's orbit was inclined at an angle to the plane of the equator as shown.

Calculate the number of times that the satellite crossed over the equator each day.
radius of orbit = 2.66 × 107 m
mass of the Earth = 6.0 × 1024 kg
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Number of times satellite crosses equator = ...........................................................

(b)  A student calculated the increase in the potential energy of the satellite from launch to its final orbit
height. He used the equation ΔEgrav = mgΔh
Explain how the actual value for ΔEgrav differed from the value calculated using ΔEgrav = mgΔh
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(Total for question = 8 marks)
 

Q3.
 
Mercury is the smallest planet in the Solar System and the closest planet to the Sun.
Its orbital period around the Sun is the shortest of all the planets in the Solar System.

(a)  Mercury takes 7.60 × 106 s to make one complete orbit about the Sun.
Calculate the radius of this orbit.
You may assume that the orbit is circular.
mass of Sun = 1.99 × 1030 kg
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Radius of orbit = ...........................................................

(b)  (i)  Derive an expression for the gravitational field strength g at a distance R from a point mass M.
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(ii)  Calculate g at the surface of a uniform sphere with the same mass and radius as Mercury.
mass of Mercury = 3.30 × 1023 kg
radius of Mercury = 2.44 × 106 m
(2)
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g = ...........................................................

 
(Total for question = 7 marks)
 

Q4.
 
The Sun is one of about 1011 stars in the Milky Way galaxy. The vast majority of stars in the Milky Way are
observed to be within its nucleus. The Sun lies on the Sagittarius arm of the Milky Way, about 27 000 light
years from the centre of the galaxy, as shown.
(a)  The galaxy is rotating about its centre and astronomers estimate that the Sun makes one complete
revolution every 240 million years.
(i)  Show that the angular velocity of the Sun ωSun, about the centre of the galaxy, is about 8 × 10−16 rad
s−1.
1 year = 3.15 × 107 s
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(ii)  Use Newton's law of gravitation to show that, for any star outside the nucleus, ω2 ∝ 1/r3 where r is
the distance between the star and the centre of the galaxy.
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(iii)  Use the expression from (ii), together with the value of ωSun from (i), to calculate a value for the
angular velocity ωstar of a star similar to the Sun, but located at the edge of the Milky Way.
diameter of galaxy ≈ 100 000 light years
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ωstar = ...........................................................

(b)  In fact, stars similar to the Sun, but further away from the centre of the galaxy, are observed to have
angular velocities that are all approximately the same.
Explain what astronomers can conclude from these observations.
(2)
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(Total for question = 8 marks)
 

Mark Scheme

Q1.
 
 

Q2.
 

Q3.
 
 

Q4.