Energy
The specific orbital energy is negative, and
Thus the virial theorem applies even without taking a time-average:
- the kinetic energy of the system is equal to the absolute value of the total energy
- the potential energy of the system is equal to twice the total energy
The escape velocity from any distance is √2 times the speed in a circular orbit at that distance: the kinetic energy is twice as much, hence the total energy is zero.
Read more about this topic: Circular Orbit
Famous quotes containing the word energy:
“Long before Einstein told us that matter is energy, Machiavelli and Hobbes and other modern political philosophers defined man as a lump of matter whose most politically relevant attribute is a form of energy called “self-interestedness.” This was not a portrait of man “warts and all.” It was all wart.”
—George F. Will (b. 1941)
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—James Madison (1751–1836)
“While the State becomes inflated and hypertrophied in order to obtain a firm enough grip upon individuals, but without succeeding, the latter, without mutual relationships, tumble over one another like so many liquid molecules, encountering no central energy to retain, fix and organize them.”
—Emile Durkheim (1858–1917)