Consider a monkey wrench released at rest at the far edge of the solar system that drops to Earth by virtue of only Earth's gravity.The wrench will strike Earth's surface with a speed of about
A)10 m/s.
B)8 km/s.
C)11 km/s.
D)the speed of light.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The speed with which an object falls under the influence of gravity only depends on the distance between the object and center of the Earth. The wrench will fall from a distance of about 5.9 x 10^12 m, which is the farthest edge of the solar system, to the surface of the Earth, a distance of about 6.4 x 10^6 m. Using the formula v=sqrt(2gh), where g is the acceleration due to gravity (9.81 m/s^2), h is the distance fallen, and v is the final velocity, we get v = sqrt(2 x 9.81 x (5.9 x 10^12 + 6.4 x 10^6)) = 11 km/s, which is the closest to the given options.

Consider a Monkey Wrench Released at Rest at the Far