Try it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
A projectile is fired from the Earth's surface with a speed , in a direction from the vertical, as shown in the figure. Here is the Earth's radius and is the gravitational field at its surface. Ignore air and the Earth's rotation.
Have you tried it?
Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Plan. Gravity is the only force, and it points to the Earth's centre. So energy and angular momentum about the centre are conserved. Use and .
Step 1. Angular momentum. At launch the velocity makes with the radius, so its part at right angles to the radius is . At the highest point, distance from the centre, the velocity is at right angles to the radius: , so .
Step 2. Energy (per kilogram). At launch: . At the top: . Put in from Step 1:
Multiply by : , so .
Step 3. Height. The larger root is the highest point: , so the height is . (The smaller root would be the nearest point of the orbit, inside the Earth.)
Step 4. Speed at the top. .
Step 5. With constant . The vertical part of the launch velocity is , and , less than half of the true height. Gravity weakens with height, so the projectile climbs much higher.
Answer: (a) . (b) . (c) .
Check. The total energy, , means an ellipse with semi-major axis . Its nearest and farthest distances, and , add up to , as they should. In general, at this launch speed the greatest height is for a launch at from the vertical.
Watch out. Energy alone is not enough here: the projectile still moves sideways at the top, so not all of its kinetic energy turns into height. Fired straight up at the same speed, it would reach a height of .
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