Imagine that it is possible to take a 10 kg mass and raise it straight up off th

Question

Imagine that it is possible to take a 10 kg mass and raise it straight up off the Earth's equator on a huge tower that stretches beyond the Earth's atmosphere into space. If the top of the tower is 160.0 km directly above a point on the Earth's equator, what would the mass weight at the top of the tower? For comparison, on the surface of the Earth, the mass weighs 98.6 Newtons. DATA: Equatorial radius of the Earth 6.378E6 meters; mass of the Earth 5.98E24 kg; Gravitational Constant 6.673E-11 Nm^2/kg^2

Use Newton's Universal Law of Gravity. Don't forget to add the distance from the surface of the Earth to the radius of the Earth at the Equator.

NOTE: wrong answers already attempted

5.98e24 N

Explanation / Answer

force of gravity between two objects of mass M and m and seprated by distance d is given by

G*M*m/d^2

where G=universal gravitational constant

now here M=5.98*10^24 kg

m=10 kg

d=(6.378*10^6+160*10^3)=6.538*10^6 m

then putting all the values,
weight=93.3539 N

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