What is Escape Velocity? (Physics)

Throw a stone in the air, it falls back down. Throw it harder, and if you are very strong you might place the stone into orbit. Throw it even harder, and the stone might leave the Earth forever. The minimum velocity you need to provide the stone for it to do so is called escape velocity.

In this video, we look into the details of this notion that is so important to rocket science.

To truly understand the concept of escape velocity, we use an approach based on Energy.

First, we discuss the components of the energy of a system composed of two masses (A planet and a rocket for example). Then, we look how this energy distributes itself between kinetic and potential energy. This provides the grounds for defining and deriving the mathematical formula for escape velocity.

Then, it will be time to play: we will use this formula to determine the radius of a black hole. As an example, we will imagine that the Earth collapses into a black hole, and attempt to determine the size it would have.

The concepts presented here are aligned with many high schools’ physics programs. This is why was added at the very end of the video some exercises to train on (with their detailed solutions).

#escapevelocity #physics #gravity

STRUCTURE OF THE VIDEO 00:00 Introduction. 00:30 Structure and content of the video. 01:42 The energy of a system of 2 masses. 03:14 The energy of a rocket-planet system. 06:19 What is escape velocity? 06:30 How to derive the escape velocity formula? 07:14 What is the event horizon of a black hole? 07:50 How to calculate the size of a black hole? 09:11 Quiz: what would happen to the moon if the Earth became a black hole? 09:30 Escape velocity - training exercises.

VIDEOS TO WATCH: Gravitational potential energy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba5oI7QO2cE What is Energy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofomL1qI3xI

MUSIC ALBUM Physics Made Easy « The soundtracks ». Listen to the it here : https://edouardreny.bandcamp.com/album/physics-made-easy-the-soundtracks

CREDITS: The script, the illustrations, the music and the video were produced and presented by Edouard Reny, Ph.D. in solid state chemistry and private tutor in Physical Sciences. Pictures and images originate from Pixabay.com Picture of the moon: Richard Ross, freepngimg.com, Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 4.0)

DO YOU NEED HELP WITH YOUR HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS? Edouard provides one-on-one private tuition in Physics (face to face or by Skype). If you wish to know more about this, or contact Edouard, visit his website: https://www.physics-tutor.nl/ or this one (for French speakers: https://www.profdephysique.fr/).

... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzDlmbTxgXY