Earth's Curvature & Satellite Motion Explained - Essay Sample

Introduction

Conceptual integrated science explains the relationship between Earth’s curvature and satellite motion. A satellite is a projectile that moves fast that eventually falls around the Earth. The surface of Earth drops in a vertical distance of 5m in every 8000m, which is tangent to the surface. In other words, due to Earth’s curvature, if a person is floating in an ocean, he/she will be able to see 5m the top of a ship that is 8000m or 8km away (Hewitt et al. 110). An interesting concept is, at high speed, the atmospheric friction would incinerate a satellite; thus, earth satellites are launched to an attitude that is higher than 15kms. It is often mistaken that satellite that orbits at a high attitude is free from gravity, but it is a misconception. Consequently, if there were no gravity when satellites are orbiting in high altitudes, the satellite would be orbiting in a straight-line instead of curving around the Earth (Hewitt et al. 110). Isaac Newton compared the motion of the moon to a cannonball after being fired at the top of a high mountain. He concluded that the cannonball would follow a curved path and hit the Earth in a short while if it was fired with a low horizontal speed if the height of the mountain was above Earth’s atmosphere.

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Conceptual integrated science explains how thermodynamics is related to the conservation of energy. Thermodynamic is a Greek word that means movements of heat. Therefore, thermodynamics is the study of how heat is transformed into a different kind of energy. There are three laws that explain thermodynamic theories, and the first law states that “Whenever heat flows into or out of a system, the gain or loss of the thermal energy equals the amount of heat transferred” thus there is no net loss or gain when thermal energy system transfers heat (Hewitt et al. 126). Therefore, the first law states the application of the conversion of energy in thermal systems. For instance, in everyday life, when an airtight can is heated, the temperature rises because the air can increases the thermal energy. The second law states that” heat never spontaneously flows from a lower temperature substance to a higher temperature substance.” in other words, heat does not flow from a cold object to a hot object. For instance, during winter, heat flows from inside the house to outside, and during summer, heat flows from outside to inside the house. Interestingly, heat will only flow from a low-temperature substance to a high-temperature substance if work is done on the substance or adding energy from another source. The third law states that there is no thermal energy system that can reduce its temperature to absolute zero. The three laws explain the transformation of heat and conversion of energy in both high and low temperatures.

Why does ice float? Ice floats because the molecules in a hot substance shake faster and move farther than in cold substances. When a substance is heated, it tends to expand and contracts when cooled (Hewitt et al. 133). Most of these substances are in metallic such as telephone wires, railroad tracks, and metal lids. In everyday life, the telephones wires become long and saggy during a hot day, rail tracks buckle during a hot day, and metal lids loosen under hot water. Thermal expansion occurs in glasses, specifically a Pyrex glass, which is formulated to expand when the temperature increases. Thermal expansion occurs in concrete roadways sine the gaps on the road and sidewalks are filled tar, which allows thermal expansion.

Work Cited

Hewitt, Paul G., et al. Conceptual integrated science. Pearson, 2013.