"Bald Eagle" <cre### [at] netscapenet> wrote:
> > Wouldn't that debris naturally be in some different orbit, because of
> > its different speed?
>

>
> But you can have circular orbits, elliptical orbits, and you also have
> 360-degrees of rotation around both orthogonal axes - so you could
> be travellingat 70,000 mph in one direction, and get t-boned, or hit by
> an object head-on in the "oncoming lane".

Yeah, I completely forgot about those little facts; there are an infinite number
of 'great circles' around the Earth for any given orbit... as well as their
reversed directions!

> It depends on the mass.  Two equal masses [w][c]ould occupy the same orbit.

Like Clipka says, I think the different masses of the various objects (in the
same orbit) can be ignored. Let's say there are two objects: the U.S. Space
shuttle, and an apple(!) I'm guessing that both can be launched into the same
orbit, given the correct trajectories and forces. Assuming both are in nicely
circular orbits, they are actually 'falling' around the Earth. Neglecting air
resistance, any two objects 'fall' at the same rate, regardless of their masses.
(The old Galileo experiment, from the Tower of Pisa.) So it follows that the
Space shuttle and the apple-- in the same orbit-- are going at the same speed or
velocity. (If their speeds were different, one would head further off into
space-- attaining a higher orbit, or maybe a more eccentric one?)

I find that it's far more fun to CONJECTURE about things than to actually look
up the facts  :-P  Just like the ancient Greeks! (Well, they did OK with
geometry, I guess...)

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