Final answer:
The correct altitude of a geosynchronous satellite orbiting Earth once per day is 35,786 km above Earth's surface, which corresponds to an orbital radius of approximately 42,164 km from Earth's center.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student's question pertains to determining the altitude of a satellite that orbits Earth once every day, also known as a geosynchronous satellite. We can answer this by using Kepler's third law and the fact that a geosynchronous satellite must have an orbital period of exactly one day so that it maintains a fixed position relative to Earth's surface.
Given the choices, the correct altitude of such a satellite is 35,786 km above Earth's surface. This is because a geosynchronous orbit, where the satellite remains geostationary relative to the Earth's rotation, has a specific radius of approximately 42,164 km from Earth's center, which means the altitude is approximately 35,786 km above Earth's surface (Earth's radius being about 6,378 km).