What is the angular speed of a satellite in a geostationary orbit around the Earth? A 1.2 x 10^(-5) rad s^(-1) B 7.3 x 10^(-5) rad s^(-1) C 4.2 x 10^(-3) rad s^(-1) D 2.6 x 10^(-1) rad s^(-1) - AQA - A-Level Physics - Question 9 - 2019 - Paper 2

A geostationary satellite orbits the Earth with an angular speed equal to the angular speed of the Earth's rotation, which is approximately 1 revolution per 24 hours.

First, convert this to radians per second:

The Earth makes one full rotation (2π radians) in 24 hours:

ext{Angular Speed} = rac{2 ext{π rad}}{24 imes 3600 ext{ s}}

Calculating this gives:

ext{Angular Speed} = rac{2 ext{π}}{86400} ext{ rad s}^{-1} \approx 7.27 imes 10^{-5} ext{ rad s}^{-1}

Thus, the angular speed of a geostationary satellite is approximately $7.3 imes 10^{-5}$ rad s^{-1}, which corresponds to option B.