Circular and Satellite Motion - Mission CG8 Detailed Help

Consider the path of a counter-clockwise-orbiting satellite and the provided vector. Several locations along the path are labeled with letters. The vector's direction matches the velocity vector at location ____ and the direction of the net force vector at location ____. List the two letters in their respective order; no commas; no spaces.


 
Tangential Velocity
Velocity is a vector and has a direction. The direction of an object's velocity is always in the same direction that the object is moving. For an object moving in orbital motion, the velocity vector is always directed in a direction that is tangent to the orbital path.


 
Definition of a Satellite:
A satellite is an object that is orbiting some central body as a result of the sole influence of the gravitational attraction towards that body's mass.


 
A satellite is an object that is under the sole influence of gravity. The net force on a satellite is simply the gravitational force with which it is attracted to the object it orbits. The force of gravity between the satellite and the planet (or central body) is an attractive force. The satellite experiences a pull or force towards the central body that it orbits.