2006-07-21 01:15:31 · 4 answers · asked by muni 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Satellites experience zero G while in orbit. This is said to be due to the fact that the satellite is falling and it's orbit carries it past the earth so that it's distance from the earth remains constant yet it is always falling toward earth.
2006-07-21 01:19:10 · answer #1 · answered by mikey 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Weight is only measured with respect to the force of gravity and the mass of the object.
Sattelites do not change their mass. But the gravitational force is much weaker that far off the surface of the earth. The reason they do not get pulled back onto the earth is that they are traveling awfully fast through space - at the same speed that the earth is rotating, and as fast as the earth is moving around the sun. The reason that they don't get flung off into space is because the momentum of the object (based on its mass) continues to propel it away form the earth. This balance of gravitational force, mass and momentum is called an orbit. All orbits decay and the objects eventually come back to the earth. Rockets are required to sustain orbit ad maintain the balance of momentum vs gravitational pull.
Check this out... when filming the movie Appolo 13, they rented an airliner and filmed within the airplane while it was in a dive to achieve weightlessness. The actors floated around the airplane, squishing orance juice out of packets and flinginf tape recorders to each other. They could only dive for 30 seconds at a time though. But in that instance weightlessness was not acheived, only perceived. The mass didn't change.
:-)
2006-07-21 09:08:07 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
A satellite is not weightless. It weighs what it weighs on the planet it is a satellite of. The orbit of a satellite by definition is one that just keeps it from falling into the planet or flying off into space, so that the gravitational pull of the planet is equal to the "centrifugal" force trying to escape the planet's gravity. The equilibrium means that anything in the satellite appears to have no weight. It still has mass, however, and energy has to be used to move the "weightless" item around.
2006-07-21 08:30:53 · answer #3 · answered by thylawyer 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
W = mg
g approx 0 (in space... far from other masses)
therefore W approx 0
2006-07-21 08:17:49 · answer #4 · answered by Orinoco 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋