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solution

Use conservation of angular momentum. At the maximum and the minimum distances, the radius vector is perpendicular to the velocity vector so that the angular momentum is

\begin{displaymath}
L ~=~ r_p v_p ~=~ r_a v_a
\end{displaymath} (1.14)

Solving for $v_a$
\begin{displaymath}
v_a ~=~ {r_p\over r_a} v_p
\end{displaymath} (1.15)



Joshua Deutsch 2003-03-05