Escape Velocity Calculator

Celestial Body Presets
Custom Calculation
Output Unit
Escape Velocity Formula:
ve = √(2GM/R)
Where:
G = 6.674×10-11 m3/kg⋅s2
M = Mass of celestial body
R = Radius of celestial body

Escape Velocity

11.2 km/s
(25,020 mph)
This is the escape velocity of Earth

Calculation Details

For Earth:

ve = √(2 × 6.674×10-11 × 5.972×1024 / 6.371×106)

ve = √(7.973×1014 / 6.371×106)

ve = √(1.251×108)

ve ≈ 11,186 m/s ≈ 11.2 km/s

Escape velocity is the minimum speed needed for an object to escape from the gravitational influence of a massive body without further propulsion.

Key points:

  • The formula comes from equating kinetic energy to gravitational potential energy
  • It depends only on the mass and radius of the celestial body
  • For Earth, it's about 11.2 km/s (40,270 km/h or 25,020 mph)
  • For the Sun at its surface, it's about 617.5 km/s
  • For a black hole, the escape velocity at the event horizon equals the speed of light