Gravitation

MAHABHARAT
BATCH
SHEET-1 & 2
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1. Two stationary particles of masses M1 and M2 are at a distance 'd' apart. A third particle lying
on the line joining the particles, experiences no resultant gravitational forces. What is the
distance of this particle from M1.
2. A thin rod of mass M and length L is bent in a semicircle as shown in figure. (a) What is its
gravitational force (both magnitude and direction) on a particle with mass m at O, the centre
of curvature? (b) What would be the force on m if the rod is, in the form of a complete circle?
3. A space-ship is launched into a circular orbit close to the Earth's surface. What additional
speed should now be imparted to the spaceship so that orbit to overcome the gravitational
pull of the Earth.
4. A very small groove is made in the earth, and a particle of mass m0 is placed at R/2 distance
from the centre. Find the escape speed of the particle from that place.

5. In a double star, two stars (one of mass m and the other of 2m) distant d apart rotate about
their common centre of mass. Deduce an expression of the period of revolution. Show that
the ratio of their angular momenta about the centre of mass is the same as the ratio of their
kinetic energies.
6. An object is projected vertically up from the earth's surface with velocity Rg where R is the

radius of the earth and 'g' is the acceleration due to earth on the surface of earth. Find the
maximum height reached by the object.
7. The figure shows elliptical orbit of a planet m about the sun S. The shaded area SCD is twice
the shaded area SAB. If t1 be the time for the planet to move form C to D and t2 is the time to
move from A to B, then:

t1  t2 t1  8t2 t1  4t2 t1  2t2

2

(a) (b) (c) (d)

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8. A particle is projected vertically upwards the surface of the earth (radius Re) with a speed
equal to one fourth of escape velocity. What is the maximum height attained by it from the
surface of the earth?
16 Re 4
(a) Re (b) (c) Re (d) None of these
15 15 15
9. A particle is projected from point A, that is at a distance 4R from the centre of the Earth, with
speed v1 in a direction making 30° with the line joining the centre of the Earth and point A, as
shown. Find the speed v1 of particle (in m/s) if particle passes grazing the surface of the earth.
Consider gravitational interaction only between these two.
GM
(use  6.4  107 m2 /s2 )
R

8000
(a) (b) 800 (c) 800 2 (d) None of these
2
10. If the law of gravitation be such that the force of attraction between two particles vary inversely
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as the th power of their separation, then the graph of orbital velocity v 0 plotted against the
2
distance r of a satellite from the earth's centre on a log-log scale is shown alongside. The
slope of line will be:

5 5 3
(a)  (b)  (c)  (d) 1
4 2 4
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 Paragraph
A solid sphere of mass M and radius R is surrounded by a spherical shell of same mass M
and radius 2R as shown. A small particle of mass m is released from rest from a
height h(<<R) above the shell. There is a hole in the shell.

11. In what time will it enter the hole at A:

hR2 2hR2 hR2

(a) 2 (b) (c) (d) None of these
GM GM GM
12. What time will it take to move from A to B?

4R2 4R2 4R2

(a)  (b)  (c)  (d) None of these
GMR GMR GMR
13. With what approximate speed will it collide at B?

2GM GM 3GM GM
(a) (b) (c) (d)
R 2R 2R R
14. A satellite is launched in the equatorial plane in such a way that it can transmit signals

GM
upto 60° latitude on the earth. The orbital velocity of the satellite is found to be . Find
R
the value of  .
15. An artificial satellite (mass m) of a planet (mass M) revolves in a circular orbit whose radius
is n times the radius R of the planet. In the process of motion, the satellite experiences a slight
resistance due to cosmic dust. Assuming the force of resistance of satellite to depend on
velocity as F = av2 where 'a' is a constant, calculate how long the satellite will stay in the
space before it falls onto the planet's surface.
16. There is a concentric hole of radius R in a solid sphere of radius 2R. Mass of the remaining
portion is M. What is the gravitational potential at centre?

5GM 7GM 3GM 9GM

4

(a)  (b)  (c)  (d) 

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7R 14R 7R 14R
17. A particle of mass M is at a distance a from surface of a thin spherical shell of equal mass
and having radius a

(a) Gravitational field and potential both are zero at centre of the shell
(b) Gravitational field is zero not only inside the shell but at a point outside the shell also
(c) Inside the shell, gravitational field alone is zero
(d) Neither gravitational field nor gravitational potential is zero inside the shell
18. A solid sphere of uniform density and radius 4 units is located with its centre at the origin O
of coordinates. Two spheres of equal radii 1 unit, with their centres at A (–2, 0, 0) and
B (2, 0, 0) respectively, are taken out of the solid leaving behind spherical cavities as shown
in figure. Then :

(a) The gravitational field due to this object at the origin is zero
(b) The gravitational field at the point B (2, 0, 0) is zero
(c) The gravitational potential is the same at all points of circle y2 + z2 = 36
(d) The gravitational potential is the same at all points on the circle y2 + z2 = 4
19. A small ball of mass 'm' is released at a height 'R' above the Earth surface, as shown in the
figure. If the maximum depth of the ball to which it goes is R/2 inside the Earth through a
narrow grove before coming to rest momentarily. The grove, contain an ideal spring of spring
constant K and natural length R, the value of K is (R is radius of Earth and M mass of Earth)

3GMm 6GMm 9GMm 7GMm

(a) (b) (c) (d)
3 3 3
R R R R3
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20. A satellite is in a circular orbit very close to the surface of a planet. At some point it is given
an impulse along its direction of motion, causing its velocity to increase n times. It now goes
into an elliptical orbit. The maximum possible value of n for this to occur is
1
(a) 2 (b) 2 (c) 2 1 (d)
2 1
21. Distance between the centres of two stars is 10a. The masses of these stars are M and 16 M
and their radii a and 2a respectively. A body of mass m is fired straight from the surface of
the larger star towards the surface of the smaller star. What should be its minimum initial
speed to reach the surface of the smaller star? Obtain the expression in terms of G, M and a.
22. A cord of length 64 m is used to connected a 100 kg astronaut to spaceship whose mass is
much larger than that of the astronaut. Estimate the value of the tension in the cord. Assume
that the spaceship is orbiting near Earth surface. Assume that the spaceship and the
astronaut fall on a straight line from the Earth centre. The radius of the Earth is 6400 km.
23. Assume that a tunnel is dug across the Earth (radius = R) passing through its centre. Find the
time a particle takes to reach centre of Earth if it is projected into the tunnel from surface of
Earth with speed needed for it to escape the gravitational field of Earth.

Answer Key

1  M1  11 (a) 21 3 5GM
d 
 M1  M2 
2 a

2 (a) 2GmM/L2 12 (c) 22 3  102 N

(b) zero

3 GM 13 (d) 23  1  Re
( 2  1) T  sin1  
R  3 g

4 11GMe 14 (2)
ve 
4R

5 1 15 m
( n  1)
2 a gR

6 R 16 (d)

7 (d) 17 (d)

8 (b) 18 (a, b)

9 (a) 19 (d)
6

10 (c) 20 (b)
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