When the space shuttle coasts in a circular orbit at constant speed about the earth, is it accelerating? if so, in what direction?

Yes. Acceleration means any change in speed or direction of motion. When an object coasts in a circular orbit at constant speed around the Earth, its direction is constantly changing. The acceleration is "CENTRIPETAL", which points toward the center of the circle.

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facundo3141592 facundo3141592 · Answer 2 · 2022-03-15T14:23:21+01:00

Yes, there is centripetal acceleration, whose direction is radially inwards, towards the center of the Earth.

How to get the acceleration?

Remember that if an object is not accelerating, then it will remain at rest or will move with a constant velocity. Remember that velocity is defined by a magnitude (the speed) and a direction.

Now, in the case of a circular orbit, the speed is constant, but the direction of motion is not, so the velocity is not constant. So yes, we have acceleration.

That acceleration is called centripetal acceleration, and always appears when we have circular motion, is an acceleration that points inwards, to the center of the circle.

So in the case of the space shuttle that orbits Earth, the acceleration's direction would be radially inwards, towards the center of the Earth.

If you want to learn more about acceleration, you can read:

https://brainly.com/question/605631