Question

The maximum and minimum distance of a comet from the sun are $8\times 10^{12}m$ and $1.6\times 10^{12}m$ . If its velocity when nearest to the sun is 60 m/s, what will be its velocity in m/s when farthest?

• A. 12
• B. 60
• C. 112
• D. 6

Answer 1

Answer: (A)

12

Answer 2

According to law of conservation of angular momentum $m{{\upsilon }_{1}}{{r}_{1}}=m{{\upsilon }_{2}}{{r}_{2}}$ or ${{\upsilon }_{1}}=\frac{{{\upsilon }_{2}}{{r}_{2}}}{{{r}_{1}}}$ $=\frac{60\times 1.6\times {{10}^{12}}}{8\times {{10}^{12}}}=12\,m\text{/}s$