University:
California State University, Los Angeles
Course:
PHYS 1100 | Physics
Academic year:

2023
Views:

275

Pages:

1
Author:

levedzgetmo7f

Rockets and Space Travel (STOP AFTER ROCKETS – not going to cover Kepler’s Laws or Relativity) Vocabulary (short definition/use in a sentence) • • • • Thrust o Forward force obtained by an object by pushing itself against its own limited store of fuel Exhaust Velocity o Backwards directed force of the exhaust leaving the rocket Orbit o The path an object takes as it falls freely around a celestial object Orbital Period o The time is takes for an object to complete one orbit Units (what quantity is measured in the following) • N/A Equations and physical laws (express in words) • • Speed of a spacecraft o Spacecraft speed = exhaust speed x log(mass space + mass fuel / mass spacecraft) Law of Universal Gravitation o The pull of gravity is strongest between massive objects but diminishes rapidly as distance increases Example problems/questions: 1. Do astronauts experience gravity when in outer space? Explain. a. Yes, but the magnitude of the gravity will vary depending on how close astronauts are to celestial objects, as well as how massive those objects are. 2. What is the escape velocity at the surface of the Earth? a. At the surface of the earth the velocity would be zero, because there is nothing that needs to be broken through. 3. You and a friend are on roller skates. You are in a room and have a basketball and are standing in between two parallel walls. By touching only the ball, describe how you would make yourselves come together. a. If I threw the ball behind me with enough force, that same force would push back on me from the ball, and since I am on wheels it would propel me towards my friend.