Problem 5-25.




The small difference between answers from these two method is due to:

  1. 12800km is not exactly two time the earth radius (assumed to be 6380km in the calculation).
  2. The g on earth surface (i.e. 9.8 m/s2) used in the second calculation may be slightly different from the value calculated from the law of gravitation with R = 6380km.