Copyright © Michael Richmond.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
The rocket problem
Remember that objects falling near earth with no
forces acting except gravity have a downwards acceleration of 9.8 m/s^2.
- Your coop job is with a research group studying ozone depletion.
Your group will launch a rocket that has a mass spectrometer in its
nose cone. You are assigned the task of determining the acceleration
of the rocket so that the equipment can be designed to survive. The
rocket will have has a burn time of 30 seconds, during which time
it flies straight up with constant acceleration.
After the fuel is exhausted, the
rocket will enter free-fall. You are told that the total time of
flight of the rocket must be 5.0 minutes. What should
you make the acceleration of
the rocket when the engine is on, and what is the maximum altitude of
the rocket?
Is this problem realistic? Where is the ozone layer anyway?
Copyright © Michael Richmond.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.