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Europa is an example of a satellite which is heated by tidal forces. The orbit is constant, so how is energy conserved on Europa?

Mason
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    Why do you think the orbit will be constant? – Jon Custer Nov 30 '15 at 15:31
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    Or, put slightly differently, what changes as tidal forces are applied to the body? – Jon Custer Nov 30 '15 at 15:33
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    What part of the phenomena do you expect to be violating energy conservation? The force applied to the satellite is not uniform throughout... – honeste_vivere Nov 30 '15 at 15:47
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    Closely related: http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/142435/ . It's not the same question, but you may find that it answers your underlying question. The short version is that "The orbit is constant" isn't actually true (but then neither is the orbit of Luna around Earth). – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten Nov 30 '15 at 16:01

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Eventually the title forces will cause the object in this case the moon to have a circular orbit. The closer it gets to a perfectly circular orbit the less title forces there are or at least more constant.

Bill Alsept
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