A golf ball cannon is made that shoots the ball at a 45 degree angle to the horizontal, and consistently achieves 300 yards.

That cannon is transported to a spherical asteroid which has the same density as the Earth. A golf ball is fired in a horizontal direction and just reaches the velocity for a stable circular orbit.

What is the radius of the asteroid?
What is the time of one orbit?

Assume the radius of the Earth is 4000 miles.
(Inspired by The Longest Drive)

The radius of the asteroid is approximately 26 miles.

The time of one orbit is approximately 1 hour 25 minutes 39 seconds.

Edited on December 7, 2008, 12:52 am

Posted by K Sengupta on 2008-12-07 00:50:51