Variable-mass system the momentum of the system varies for Therefore, by Newton's second law Noting that u - v is the velocity of d"m" relative to "m", symbolized as v, this final equation can be arranged as In a system where mass is being ejected or ablated from a main body, the derivation is slightly different. At time "t", let a mass "m" travel at a velocity v, meaning the initial momentum of the system is Since the main body will be losing mass, d"m" will be negative, meaning that at a time "t" + d"t" the momentum of the system becomes
Escape velocity alternative expression for the escape velocity formula_6 particularly useful at the surface on the body is: where "r" is the distance between the center of the body and the point at which escape velocity is being calculated and "g" is the gravitational acceleration at that distance (i.e., the surface gravity). For a body with a spherically-symmetric distribution of mass, the escape velocity formula_6 from the surface is proportional to the radius assuming constant density, and proportional to the square root of the average density ρ. where formula_14 The escape velocity "relative to the surface" of a rotating body depends on