Having trouble on the question below. Would you do need to convert the km to meters and then multiply (4700*9.8*165500)?
The first woman in space, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, flew in 1963. She orbited the earth 48 times during her 70 hour 50 minute flight at an average altitude of 165.5 km above the surface of the earth. Her spacecraft, Vostok 6, had a mass of about 4700 kg. What was her average gravitational potential energy? Thanks...
To calculate the average gravitational potential energy, you do not need to convert kilometers to meters. The formula for gravitational potential energy is:
Gravitational potential energy (PE) = mass (m) * gravitational acceleration (g) * height (h)
In this case, the mass of the spacecraft is provided as 4700 kg, the height (altitude) above the Earth's surface is given as 165.5 km, and the gravitational acceleration is a constant value of 9.8 m/s².
To calculate the average gravitational potential energy, you can use the formula and plug in the given values:
PE = 4700 kg * 9.8 m/s² * 165.5 km
However, before you can perform the calculation, you need to convert the altitude from kilometers to meters because the gravitational acceleration is given in meters per second per second (m/s²).
To convert 165.5 km to meters, you multiply by 1000 (since there are 1000 meters in a kilometer):
165.5 km * 1000 m/km = 165500 m
Now, you can plug in the converted value and solve the equation:
PE = 4700 kg * 9.8 m/s² * 165500 m
By multiplying the mass, gravitational acceleration, and height, you can find the average gravitational potential energy.