Two friends are having a conversation. Anna says a satellite in orbit is in freefall because the satellite keeps falling toward Earth. Tom says a satellite in orbit is not in freefall because the acceleration due to gravity is not 9.80 m/2 . Who do you agree with and why?

Anna is right as a satellite is in free fall because it keeps falling toward Earth, meaning that gravity is the only force acting on it. Tom is incorrect because an object does not have to accelerate at a certain speed to be considered to be in free fall. As long as gravity is the only force acting upon the object, it is considered to be in free fall.

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AFOKE88 AFOKE88 · Answer 2 · 2021-11-06T11:28:12+01:00

From the conversation anna had with tom about the satellite in orbit, we can say that;

Anna is right because falling to the earth means being subject to only gravity which means a freefall.

In physics, freefall is defined as a scenario whereby when an object is in motion, the only force acting on it is that due to gravity. This means that it is basically weightless and has no normal force acting on it

Now, a satellite in orbit means that the satellite is accelerating towards the earth and as a result it would have an orbiting rate equal to the acceleration due to gravity. Thus, only force of gravity is acting on it.

Now, Anna said that a satellite in orbit is in free fall because it keeps falling toward Earth. From our earlier definition, she is correct because falling to the earth means being subject to only gravity which means a freefall.

Whereas, Tom is incorrect because he claims the object is not in freefall.

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