Question

A satellite is orbiting the earth. If a payload of material is added until it doubles the satellite's mass, the earth's pull of gravity on this satellite will double but the satellite's orbit will not be affected.
a. True
b. False

Answer 1

Answer:

true

Explanation:

The orbit of satellite does not depends on the mass of satellite.

As teh gravitational force between the earth and the satellite is balanced by the centripetal force.

So, mass of satellite cancels out from both the sides.

Thus, the satellite orbit will not be affected by the doubling the mass of teh satellite.

So, the statement is true.

Answer 2

Answer:

True

Explanation:

When a satellite is orbiting the earth, the centripetal force is balanced by the gravitational force as :

$\dfrac{GMm}{r^2}=\dfrac{mv^2}{r}$

$v=\sqrt{\dfrac{GM}{r}}$...........(1)

Where

M is the mass of the earth

m is the mass of the planet

From equation (1), the speed of the satellite depends only on the mass of the earth and the orbital radius.

So, If a payload of material is added until it doubles the satellite's mass, the earth's pull of gravity on this satellite will double but the satellite's orbit will not be affected. It is true.