Potential Energy and Gravitational Pull
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Consider a 5-kg object interacting gravitationally with the earth. Imagine that we set up a standard reference frame with the z axis pointing vertically upward. If the interaction's potential energy when the object is at z = 5 m is -50 J, what is the approximate z-position of the object when it is at its reference separation from the earth?
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Solution Summary
A detailed solution is given. Potential energy and gravitational pull is examined. The z-position approximation for the separation from the earth is determined.
Solution Preview
What they mean by "reference separation" is that point where the potential energy is zero. The potential energy is of the form:
V(z) = mg z + c
where c is some constant which ...
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