Escape and circular speeds inside an isolated uniform sphere
ID: escape-and-circular-speeds-inside-an-isolated-uniform-sphere
For a sphere of radius and uniform mass density , with no surrounding mass and gravitational potential zero at infinity, the spherical shell theorem gives inside. Matching to the exterior point-mass potential gives . Since , the displayed relation follows for . Exterior shells leave the interior circular speed unchanged but deepen the potential and change the escape velocity; a uniform core alone is insufficient to determine escape.
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