What is the escape velocity of an object projected from the surface of the Earth, given that the Earth's radius is approximately 6400 kilometers and acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 meters per second squared?

💡 Solution & Explanation

Escape velocity is the minimum speed required for an unpowered object to break free from the gravitational attraction of a celestial body, calculated as the square root of two times the gravitational acceleration times the planetary radius. For Earth, this evaluates to approximately 11.2 kilometers per second. Orbital speed for a close satellite is about 7.9 kilometers per second. Gravitational potential energy determines the work required to move an object from the surface to infinity.