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if a satellite is in orbit around jupiter and an identical satellite is in orbit around the earth, which satellite would experience a greater attractive force?

User Kprevas
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Answer:

This is a somewhat difficult question:

the acceleration at the surface of Jupiter is about 26 m/s^2 while the acceleration at the surface of earth is 9.8 m/s^2 - however Jupiter has a density of only 1/4 that of earth while its diameter is about 11 times that of earth - one needs to consider the distance of the satellite from the center of rotation

Near the surface of each planet the acceleration of Jupiter would be greater, but Jupiter has most of its mass outside of this radius (of Earth)

M is proportional to R^3 so one can see that even tho density of Jupiter is less than that of Earth almost all of Jupiter's volume occurs at a radius greater that of Earth

F = K M m / R^2 describes the force of attraction on a mass m, but one needs to consider R and at the surface R is 11X greater for Jupiter

User Yokasta
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