Circular Orbit - Energy

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.

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