G.H.

Vatistas, May 2009

ESCAPE VELOCITY
The popular saying whatever goes up it must go down is not strictly accurate. If a solid body is shoot up by a certain velocity will never return back. This velocity is known as escape velocity and is designated by vesc. The traditional way to present this phenomenon is via the energy conservation route. Here we will take a different route. We will use instead Newtons second law along with the contents of ENGR 213. In our developments we will neglect the effects of atmospheric friction. Consider the solid object of mass m thrown upwards from the surface of the Earth r = Re [ 6.371"10 6 m ] with an initial velocity vin. Newtons 2nd law is:

m
!

dv GM = "mg = "m 2 dt r
m3 ] is the gravitational constant and M [ 6.974 "10 24 kg ] is the kgs 2

where G [ 6.674 "10#11

! mass of the Earth.

!

! or

dv GM =" 2 ! dt r
Since the mass m disappears from the equation the mass of the object does not enter into the subsequent analysis. In other words, the mass of the body is not important.

v2 =

2GM # Re & 2 $ "1' + v in ( Re % r

!

"

" %2 ) %2 - " $ ' + ' + $ $ v ' = + 1 (1+ + $ v in ' * . $ 2GM ' + r + $ 2GM ' $ ' +R ' + $ # Re & , e / # Re &

Let

"=

r ,V= Re

v ! , and V = in 2GM Re

v in 2GM Re

Then
! ! 1# (1# " )V 2 $1 ' 2 in V 2 = % #1( + Vin = " &" )
"V=

1" 1" Vin #

There are three cases worth considering: ! 2GM 2 !" ! 1. V = 1 or v = in in Re

V=

1 "

This case is represented in the figure given below as by curve 1. In this situation the body ! with mass m will travel continually towards infinity, and thus will never return to earth. ! !

2.

Vin > 1

or

v in >

2GM Re

say Vin = 1.012 "

V=

1" (1"1.012 )#

This case is represented in the same figure as by curve 2. Here again, the body with mass ! m will travel continually towards! infinity, and thus will never return to earth. ! ! 1" (1" 0.99 2 )# 2GM 2 2 2 V= 3. Vin < 1 or v in < say Vin = 0.99 " # Re This case is represented in the same figure as by curve 3. Under this condition, the body ! with mass m will up reducing continually its velocity up to! ! !" !# = 50.251) it will reach ! ! ! zero velocity at!!"!! (or r !" !#"Re) or r = 320,150 km), and then will return to Earth under free-fall conditions. Hence the object will never return to earth for any initial velocity v in " velocity v in = 11.19 m/s.

2GM . The Re

2GM is known as the escape velocity vesc, its value is approximately Re !

Another way that will produce the same results is the following. Newtons 2nd law: ! dv GM dv dv dr dv m = "m 2 = = v Chain rule: dt r dt dr dt dr Then

"1 % d $ mv 2 ' GM #2 & = (m 2 " dr r

"

"1 % " GM % d $ !mv 2 ' d $ m 2 r' #2 & # r & + =0 " dr dr

d "1 2 GM % $ mv + m 2 r' = 0 ! ! dr # 2 r & ! ! The first part on the left hand side is the kinetic energy of the body while the second ! represents is its potential energy. The above equation is the conservation of energy Solution of the last differential equation yields: !
1 2 GM v + = const. 2 r
At t = 0, r = Re and v = vin. Then,

1 2 GM v in + = const. 2 Re
!

"

1 2 GM 1 2 GM v + = v in + 2 r 2 Re