Ncert Exercises & Solutions

Satellites orbiting the earth have a finite life and sometimes debris of satellites fall to the earth. This is because:

1.	the solar cells and batteries in satellites run out.
2.	the laws of gravitation predict a trajectory spiralling inwards.
3.	of viscous forces causing the speed of the satellite and hence height to gradually decrease.
4.	of collisions with other satellites.

Step 1: Find the total energy of the satellite and the change in it.

As the total energy of the earth-satellite bounded system is negative

(\frac{- G M}{2 a})

where a is the radius of the orbit of the satellite and M is the mass of the earth. Due to the viscous force acting on the satellite, the energy decreases continuously and the radius of the orbit of the satellite decreases gradually.

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