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Dynamics and Space

Question Booklet 3

Space

Dynamics and Space

Speed of light in materials / Speed of sound in materials
Material / Speed in m/s / Material / Speed in m/s
Air / 3 x 108 / Aluminium / 5 200
Carbon dioxide / 3 x 108 / Air / 340
Diamond / 1×2 x 108 / Bone / 4 100
Glass / 2×0 x 108 / Carbon dioxide / 270
Glycerol / 2.1 x 108 / Glycerol / 1 900
Water / 2×3 x 108 / Muscle / 1 600
Steel / 5 200
Gravitational field strengths / Tissue / 1 500
/ Gravitational field strength on the surface in N/kg / Water / 1 500
Earth / 10 / Specific heat capacity of materials
Jupiter / 26 / Material / Specific heat capacity in J/kgoC
Mars / 4
Mercury / 4 / Alcohol / 2 350
Moon / 1×6 / Aluminium / 902
Neptune / 12 / Copper / 386
Saturn / 11 / Glass / 500
Sun / 270 / Glycerol / 2 400
Venus / 9 / Ice / 2 100
Uranus / 11×7 / Lead / 128
Pluto / 4×2 / Silica / 1 033
Water / 4 180
Steel / 500
Specific latent heat of fusion of materials
Material / Specific latent heat of fusion in J/kg / Melting and boiling points of materials
Material / Melting point in oC / Boiling point in oC
Alcohol / 0×99 x 105
Aluminium / 3×95 x 105 / Alcohol / -98 / 65
Carbon dioxide / 1×80 x 105 / Aluminium / 660 / 2470
Copper / 2×05 x 105 / Copper / 1 077 / 2 567
Glycerol / 1×81 x 105 / Glycerol / 18 / 290
Lead / 0×25 x 105 / Lead / 328 / 1 737
Water / 3×34 x 105 / Turpentine / -10 / 156
SI Prefixes and Multiplication Factors
Specific latent heat of vaporisation of materials / Prefix / Symbol / Factor
Material / Sp.l.ht vap(J/kg) / giga / G / 1 000 000 000=109
Alcohol / 11×2 x 105 / mega / M / 1 000 000 =106
Carbon dioxide / 3×77 x 105 / kilo / k / 1 000 =103
Glycerol / 8×30 x 105 / milli / m / 0×001 =10-3
Turpentine / 2×90 x 105 / micro / m / 0×000 001 =10-6

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Weight, Thrust and Acceleration

In this section you can use the equation:

also written as

where F = unbalanced force in newtons (N)

m = mass in kilograms (kg)

a = acceleration in metres per second per second (m/s 2).

Helpful Hint

When a spacecraft is in space the only force acting on it is its engine thrust.

1. Find the missing values in the table.

Force (N) / Mass (kg) / Acceleration (m/s2)
(a) / 700,000 / 2.0
(b) / 45,000 / 0.9
(c) / 1000 / 0.05
(d) / 3,600,000 / 0.01
(e) / 10,000 / 80,000
(f) / 2,600,000 / 2,000,000

2. The engine of a space shuttle can produce a thrust of 600 000 N. The mass of the shuttle is 8 x 105 kg. Calculate the acceleration of the shuttle in space.

3. What engine thrust must be produced by a rocket of mass 3 x 106 kg in order to produce an acceleration of 1·4 m/s2 in space?

4. The maximum engine thrust of a spacecraft is 2·4 x 107 N and this produces an acceleration of 12 m/s2 in space. What is the mass of the spacecraft?

5. An engine force of 160 kN is used to slow down a shuttle in space. If the mass of the shuttle is 120 000 kg what is its rate of deceleration?

6. Use the three stages outlined in the example above to find the missing values in the following table. Assume that each mass is in the Earth’s gravitational field.

Mass (kg) / Weight (N) / Thrust (N) / Unbalanced Force (N) / Acceleration (m/s2)
(a) / 3 / 30 / 60
(b) / 2000 / 2000 / 21000
(c) / 1500 / 20,000
(d) / 50,000 / 550,000
(e) / 70,000 / 840,000
(f) / 76,000 / 896,800

7. A water rocket has a mass of 0·8 kg and is launched in a school playground with an initial upwards thrust of 12 N.

(a) What is the weight of the water rocket in the playground?
(b) What is the initial acceleration of the rocket in the playground?
(c) If this water rocket were launched from the moon, what would be its initial acceleration?
(Remember to find the new weight first !) /

8. A rocket is launched from Earth with an initial acceleration of 2·5 m/s2. The mass of the rocket is 1 600 000 kg.

(a) Calculate the unbalanced force acting on the rocket during its launch.

(b) What is the weight of the rocket?

(d) What engine thrust would be required to launch this rocket from the moon with the same acceleration?

9. Calculate the acceleration of the following objects.

(a) A model rocket of mass 30 kg being launched from Earth with an engine thrust of 800 N.

(b) A satellite in space whose mass is 1,800 kg and whose engine force is 4·68 kN.

(d) A toy rocket of mass 1·5 kg whose engine stopped while the rocket was in mid air.

(e) A spaceship of mass 4 x 107 kg lifting off from Saturn with an engine thrust of 9 x 108 N.

(f) A rocket of mass 2·2 x 106 kg being launched from Neptune with an engine thrust of 4·4 x 107 N.

10. A space shuttle has a weight of 1·8 x 107 N on Earth. Its engines produce a thrust of 2·7 x 106 N during part of its journey through space.

(You will need to refer to the data sheet on page 2 for parts of this question.)

(a) Calculate the mass of the shuttle.

(b) What is the acceleration of the shuttle in space while its engine thrust is 2·7 x 106 N?

(d) The engine thrust was 2·7 x 107 N during the launch from Earth. What was the acceleration of the shuttle during its launch?

(e) If a similar shuttle was launched from Venus with an engine thrust of 2·7 x 107 N, what would be the acceleration of this shuttle during lift off?

(f) What engine thrust would be required in order to launch this shuttle from Jupiter with an acceleration of 5 m/s2?

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Cosmology Questions 1

1. What is a solar system?

2. The moon orbits the Earth , it is an example of a natural ______

3. List the eight planets in our solar system, in order, from closest to the sun to furthest away from the sun.

4. Which of the planets is the largest?

5. Which planets have no moons?

6. What is the difference between the four planets nearest the sun compared to the four furthest away from the sun?

7. What is the description now given to describe Pluto?

8. What is a star mostly made of?

9. What is a galaxy?

10. What is the name of our galaxy?

11. What is the name given to the unit of distance typically used in space?

12. What is the name of the nearest star to the sun – and how far away is it?

13. What is the name given to the start of the Universe?

14. What is meant by ‘the Universe’?

15. Give one piece of evidence that supports the theory behind the start of the Universe?

16. What estimate do cosmologists put on the age of the Universe?

17. List three conditions which must exist for life, as found on Earth, to exist on another planet.

18. What is the name given to a planet which orbits around another star (but not our Sun)?

19. What is the name given to the area where planets which might be habitable are found?

20. List three ways we can explore space.

SIC Physics Fevelopment Group I McI 7

Cosmology Questions 2

Clues down
1. Jupiter--- Mars are planets.
2. ------Centauri is the nearest star outwith our Solar System.
3. The closest ‘star’ to Earth.
4. A useful object for star gazing.
5. We see these because of the different frequencies in white light.
7. The moon is a natural satellite of this planet.
8. This keeps our feet on the ground!
10. This large lens in a telescope creates the image of a star.
14. This quantity is measured in kilograms and does not change from planet to planet.
15. 700 nm is the wavelength of this light.
16. The Universe is the name given to --- matter and space. / Clues across
2. This object can separate white light into its various colours.
4. We could describe ourselves as this compared to the Universe.
6. The number of stars in our Solar
System.
8. A cluster of stars.
9. The sun will not keep burning for ----.
11. Paths for planets around the Sun.
12. Here the gravitational field strength is
virtually zero.
13. This fictional character was not from
Earth.!
17. Obtained by mixing red, green and
blue.
18. The Sun and its nine planets.

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Distances in Space 1

Distances in Space

In this section you can use the following equation:

where: v = average speed in meters per second (m/s)

d = distance travelled in metres (m)

t = time taken in seconds (s).

Helpful Hint

Because distances in space are so large, astronomers use light years to measure distance. One light year is the distance light will travel in one year. Light travels at 3 x108 m/s.

1. How far is a light year?

2. The star Vega is 27 light years from earth. How far away is Vega in metres?

3. The star Pollux is 3·78 x 1017 m from earth. How far is this in light years?

4. The star Beta Centauri is 300 light years from earth. How long does it take light to travel from this star to the earth?

5. An astronomer on Earth views the planet Pluto through a telescope. Pluto is 5,763 x 106 km from earth. How long did it take for the light from Pluto to reach the telescope?

6. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is approximately 100,000 light years in diameter. How wide is our galaxy in kilometres?

7. The nearest star to our solar system is Proxima Centuri which is 3·99 x1016 m away. How far is this in light years?

8. Andromeda (M31) is the nearest galaxy to the Milky Way and can just be seen with the naked eye. Andromeda is 2·1 x 1022 m away from the Milky Way. How long does it take for light from Andromeda to reach our galaxy?

9. The Sun is the nearest star to the planet Earth. It takes light 8·3 minutes to reach us from the Sun. Use this information to find out the distance from the Earth to the Sun in kilometres?

10. Sir William Herschel, an amateur astronomer, discovered the planet Uranus in March 1781. Uranus is 2 871 x 106 km away from the sun. How long does it take for sunlight to reach Uranus?

Distances in Space 2

Given that the speed of light in a vacuum is 3 x 108 m/s

1. How far does light travel in

a. 1 second

b. 1 minute

c. 1 hour

d. 1 day

e. 1 year

2. If it takes 9 years for light from Sirius to reach Earth

How far away is Sirius in metres?

3. As the Sun is 1.5 x 1011 m from Earth.

How long does it take light from the Sun to reach Earth?

4. The moon is 3.84 x 108 m from Earth.

How long does it take light to travel from the Moon to Earth?

5. Uranus is 2.7x 1012 m from Earth.

How long will it take light to travel from Earth to Uranus?

6. Proxima the nearest other star to the Earth is 4.07 x 1016m away.

How many light years is this?

7. The Andromeda Galaxy is 1.9 x 1019 m away.

What is this in light years?

8. Ursa Major is a constellation that is 1x 107 light years from Earth. How far is this in kilometres?

SIC Physics Fevelopment Group I McI 12

Space Exploration

1. Space exploration is an ever developing area of science. As a result of the many different space programs across the world, technology is continually advancing. Many of the materials and equipment designed have had an impact on our daily lives.

Name one material or piece of equipment which was originally developed for space, describe its use in space and give information about its use in everyday life.

2. As well as the benefits of the space program there is a down side – Space Junk!

NASA currently monitors over 13,000 man-made objects orbiting the Earth larger than 10cm in diameter – this has increased from 9,000 in 2000. It estimates that there are millions of much smaller objects and that the total mass is about 5500 tonnes.

(a) What are the large man-made object orbiting Earth?

(b) It has even been suggested that nuclear waste could be put on the moon. State whether or not you think this is a good idea, giving reasons for your opinion.

3. The first satellite – Sputnik 1 was launched on 4/10/1957. There are now a very large number of satellites orbiting the Earth using cutting edge technologies to collect signals from tracking devices, to take photographs and temperature readings as well as many other functions.