Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/iii/paper-316/4/v/solution

For a spherical planet of mass density , . The point-comet surface escape velocity and circular Kepler orbit speed therefore give
Raise this equation to the power and solve for :
Thus the constant of proportionality is , and the gravitational constant cancels. Dimensional checking gives mass on the right: has that dimension.
This uses the planet's own escape velocity. If instead is defined at finite-comet contact, an additional factor appears on the right, and itself depends on ; the quoted pure-planet scaling is then only the limit.

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