The available options are: (found the complete text on internet)
A- at a distance less than r
B- at a distance equal to r
C- at a distance greater than r
Solution:
The correct answer is C) at a distance greater than r.
In fact, the gravitational attraction between the satellite and the Earth provides the centripetal force that keeps the satellite in circular orbit, so we can write
where the term on the left is the gravitational force, while the term on the right is the centripetal force, and where
G is the gravitational constant
M is the Earth mass
m is the satellite mass
r is the distance of the satellite from the Earth's center
v is the satellite speed
Re-arranging the equation, we get
and we see from this formula that, if the second satellite has a speed less than the speed v of the first satellite, it means that the denominator of the fraction is smaller, and so r is larger for the second satellite.
