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A satellite is in an approximately circular orbit 3600 kilometers from Earth surface. The radius of Earth is about 6400 km. What is the circumference of the satellites orbit? Round to the nearest whole kilometer if necessary.

User Eray Erdin
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2 Answers

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Final answer:

The circumference of the satellite's orbit is found by adding Earth's radius to the satellite's distance from Earth's surface to get the total orbit radius of 10000 km and then using the formula C = 2πr. The answer is approximately 62832 km after rounding to the nearest whole kilometer.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student asked for the circumference of a satellite's orbit which is 3600 kilometers from the Earth's surface, with the Earth having a radius of approximately 6400 km. To find the circumference of the satellite's orbit, we first determine the total radius of the orbit by adding the Earth's radius to the satellite's orbital distance from the Earth's surface:

Total orbit radius = Earth's radius + Orbital distance = 6400 km + 3600 km = 10000 km.

Now, we use the formula for the circumference of a circle, which is C = 2πr, where C is the circumference and r is the radius:

Circumference of the satellite's orbit = 2 x π x 10000 km ≈ 2 x 3.14159 x 10000 km ≈ 62831.85 km.

After rounding to the nearest whole kilometer, the circumference of the satellite's orbit is approximately 62832 km.

User AeroClassics
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Answer:

62,832 kilometers

Step-by-step explanation:

The first thing you want to notice is that it's giving you two pieces of one part, if that makes sense. The radius of the earth, and then the distance from the surface of the earth to the orbit. What you want to do is find the circumference of the orbit in relation to the center of the earth. So, as a result, you're going to add those two values together. 6400 + 3600 equals 10,000. Now this is only the radius, but in order to find the circumference, we need the diameter. To find the diameter, you multiply the number by two. 10,000 x 2 is 20,000. Now you multiply this number by pi to find your final answer. This answer is 62,832 kilometers.

User Felix Lamouroux
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