Reply #14: Irrelevant, it won't BE in orbit [View All]

[tkmorris]

It will be falling to earth, and while it's initial velocity may be higher than 100 mph (horizontally) it's trajectory will gradually change to a more vertical one as it enters the atmosphere and it will slow down significantly due to interaction with said atmosphere. The "drag" effect caused by the inherent resistance in the atmosphere to objects falling through it results in a terminal velocity of around 130 MPH or so, depending on the objects shape.

It is entirely reasonable to expect that the objects downward speed will be just a bit over 100 mph. It's speed horizontally, relative to the Earth's surface, might remain significant at impact but that would seem to depend upon starting conditions which I am not privy to. To illustrate this point imagine an object in a geostationary orbit. It's initial horizontal velocity relative to the Earth's surface is precisely zero, by definition. Conversely, objects in higher or lower orbits have some horizontal speed.

BTW, the speed required to stay in orbit depends entirely upon the height of the orbit desired. In theory, there is a speed at which an object could orbit a perfectly spherical Earth at a height of one inch.