Physics for Geologists, Second edition
Physics for Geologists, Second edition
Physics for Geologists, Second edition
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Notes<br />
1 The centripetal <strong>for</strong>ce required to keep a body in circular orbit is mv2/r, as we<br />
found in the dimensional analysis on page 11. The velocity of the body is 2nr/T<br />
where T is the period, the time taken <strong>for</strong> one orbit. So,<br />
mV2 m4n2r<br />
F,=ma=--- -<br />
T2<br />
4n2r<br />
and a = -<br />
Y T2 '<br />
Kepler's Third Law states that the square of the period is proportional to the cube<br />
of the mean distance, so<br />
Similarly, given the inverse square law, you can infer Kepler's third law of planetary<br />
motion, that r3 cc T2.<br />
2 Work is a weight multiplied by the distance moved in the direction of a <strong>for</strong>ce. So<br />
if you drop a mass m from a height h above the ground, its velocity on impact is<br />
v = gt.<br />
Draw a graph now of v against t, and you have a triangle (you don't need to put<br />
numbers to the graph) the area of which is the distance fallen. Thus the distance<br />
fallen is<br />
The potential energy be<strong>for</strong>e dropping is converted to kinetic energy on impact<br />
(ignoring friction) so<br />
Ep = <strong>for</strong>ce x height = mg x igt2 = imgZt2 = LmU2 2 = E k .<br />
3 If you take the Earth's radius as the unit of distance, then, as stated in the text,<br />
the attraction of the Moon is roughly proportional to 1/602 at the Earth's centre,<br />
1159~ at the sublunar point, and 1/612 at the antipode. If x is the number of Earth's<br />
radii between the centre of the Earth and the centre of the Moon, the <strong>for</strong>ce at the<br />
sublunar point is proportional to l/(x- at the centre of the Earth, to 1/x2; and<br />
at the antipode, to l/(x+ I ) ~ Two . approximations are used. (x - 1)2 = x2 -2x+ 1<br />
Copyright 2002 by Richard E. Chapman