Courses
Courses for Kids
Free study material
Offline Centres
More
Store Icon
Store
seo-qna
SearchIcon
banner

What is the binding energy of a satellite?

Answer
VerifiedVerified
525k+ views
Hint :In order to the question, to know the explanation of the binding energy of a satellite, we should go through the whole explanation and the mechanism of the satellite. And the energy absorbed or released by the satellite.

Complete Step By Step Answer:
The binding energy of a satellite can be defined as the minimum amount of energy required to be supplied to it in order to free the satellite from the gravitational influence of the planet (i.e. in order to take the satellite from the orbit to a point at infinity). Binding energy is the minimum amount of energy required for a satellite to escape the gravitational pull of earth.
Binding energy gives us an idea about the energy by which the satellite is bound to the planet. This binding energy will be used to overcome the gravitational force of attraction between the Satellite and the planet.
A satellite revolving in a circular orbit around the earth possesses potential energy as well as kinetic energy. If $ h $ is its height above the earth's surface, the radius of its orbit is $ r = R\; + \;h $ , where $ R $ is the radius of the earth.
The gravitational potential at a distance $ r $ from the centre of the $ GM $ .

Note :
So, the energy required by a satellite to revolve around the earth is called its orbiting energy. Since this satellite revolves around the earth, it has kinetic energy and is in a gravitational field, so it has potential energy.