On Tue, 1 Apr 2008 05:39:16 -0600, "William R. Thompson"
wrote:

"Greg Farr" wrote:

Just saw a commercial with a guy hitting a golf ball towards Earth;
Question; How far could the ball travel, with 1/7th gravity? Would
something like that achieve escape velocity?

I assume this is on the moon, where the gravity is 1/6 that of earth.

You can hit a golf ball at approximately 70 m/sec, maximum.
According to the "Design Guide to Orbital Flight" circular orbital
velocity at lunar surface level is 1679 m/sec, and escape velocity
is 2374 m/sec. The golf ball comes nowhere near those velocities.

If you hit the ball for maximum range, the ball will travel about
3000 meters. That assumes you can hit the ball that hard--a
spacesuit will really hamper your swing, as Al Shepard learned.

--Bill Thompson


Maybe if you got together with Bruce R, you might get a diff outcome,
don't really know who's right. Thanks

Greg
http://gregsplace.50megs.com