why cant a flying object just leave the atmosphere at a slower speed? why does it need to achieve ‘escape velocity’? if a rocket goes straight up at 100kmph without stopping, it should escape the atmosphere eventually right?
In: Physics
If I throw a ball into the air, the gravity of planet Earth will pull it back down and the ball will fall. If I throw it a little stronger, the ball will be in the air longer, but still will eventually fall back to Earth. I would have to throw the ball really really really strongly to make it go so high that Earth’s gravity doesn’t pull it back down.
That’s sort of the same idea here. A rocket that isn’t going very fast will also be pulled back down, and won’t be able to escape Earth’s gravitational pull. It has to go really fast or else it will fall back down, even if it doesn’t happen immediately.
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