Escape Velocity (Noun)
Meaning
The minimum velocity needed to escape a gravitational field.
Classification
Nouns denoting time and temporal relations.
Examples
- The spacecraft needed to reach escape velocity of at least 25,000 mph to break free from Earth's gravitational pull.
- To reach the moon, the Apollo missions had to achieve escape velocity from Earth's surface, which is approximately 25,000 miles per hour.
- The concept of escape velocity was first proposed by Isaac Newton as a way to describe the minimum speed required for an object to escape a planet's gravitational field.
- At an altitude of 200 miles, the escape velocity from Earth's surface is about 17,500 mph, which is still much faster than any commercial airliner.
- The escape velocity from the surface of Jupiter is incredibly high, approximately 37 miles per second, due to the planet's massive size and gravitational pull.