Velocity quantity, momentum, is a vector and defined by In special relativity, the dimensionless Lorentz factor appears frequently, and is given by where γ is the Lorentz factor and "c" is the speed of light. Escape velocity is the minimum speed a ballistic object needs to escape from a massive body such as Earth. It represents the kinetic energy that, when added to the object's gravitational potential energy, (which is always negative) is equal to zero. The general formula for the escape velocity of an object at a distance "r" from the center of a planet with mass "M" is where
Escape velocity velocity and the escape velocity. With a circular orbit, escape velocity is times the orbital speed. Thus the total escape velocity formula_29 when leaving one body orbiting a second and seeking to escape them both is, under simplified assumptions: where formula_31 for circular orbits. The last two columns will depend precisely where in orbit escape velocity is reached, as the orbits are not exactly circular (particularly Mercury and Pluto). Let "G" be the gravitational constant and let "M" be the mass of the earth (or other gravitating body) and "m" be the mass of the escaping body or projectile. At