Properties of Circular Orbits

Please do not include your response in a .pdf format, but Word documents are okay. Thanks! Learning Goal: To teach you how to find the parameters characterizing an object in a circular orbit around a much heavier body like the earth. The motivation for Isaac Newton to discover his laws of motion was to explain the proper ...continues

Find the speed of a spacecraft as a function of the distance to Earth

Very far from earth (at R=infinity), a spacecraft has run out of fuel and its kinetic energy is zero. If only the gravitational force of the earth were to act on it (i.e., neglect the forces from the sun and other solar system objects), the spacecraft would eventually crash into the earth. The mass of the earth is M_e and its ra ...continues

Calculate the speed of two meteoroids at their closest point relative to Earth from a given initial speed at some given distance from Earth.

Two meteoroids are heading for earth. Their speeds as they cross the moon's orbit are 2.0 km/s. The second misses the earth by 5000 km. What is its speed at its closest point?

Walking the Plank

Please do not place your response in a .pdf format, but Word documents are okay. Thanks! A horizontal uniform bar of mass m and length L is hung horizontally on two vertical strings. String 1 is attached to the end of the bar and string 2 is attached a distance L/4 from the other end. A monkey of mass m/2 walks from one end o ...continues

Basic Physics: Force and Friction

The 3.20kg, 38.0cm diameter disk in the figure is spinning at 350 rpm. How much friction force must the brake apply to the rim to bring the disk to a halt in 2.40 seconds? (PLEASE SEE ATTACHMENT FOR DIAGRAM)

Unwinding Cylinder

Please do not place your response in a .pdf format, but Word documents are okay. Thanks! A cylinder with moment of inertia I about its center of mass, mass m, and radius r has a string wrapped around it which is tied to the ceiling. The cylinder's vertical position as a function of time is y(t). At time t=0 the cylinder is ...continues

Pulling a String Adds Energy to a Wheel

Problem: A bicycle wheel is mounted on a fixed, frictionless axle, with a light string wound around its rim. The wheel has moment of inertia I=kmr2, where m is its mass, r is its radius, and k is a dimensionless number between zero and one. The wheel is rotating counterclockwise with angular velocity (SYMBOL1), when at time t ...continues

kinematics

It's first and ten. let's call the line of scrimmage the origin. The coach calls a dive (a staright ahead running play.) The line does a great job and opens a huge hole for the running back. If the running back gets the hand-off 4.0 yards behind the line of scrimmage with an initial speed of 3.0 yards/sec and accelerates at ...continues

Kinematics

The setter on the volleyball team recieves a bump and sets a ball starting from net height (2.30 m above the gym floor) straight up with a velocity of 7.27 m/s. How high off the gym floor will the ball be when it reaches the pinnacle? If the ball fell from the pinnacle straight down how fast would it be moving when it hit th ...continues

Kinematics

A man is deer hunting by a cliff that is 1000.0 m tall. He fell asleep while hunting and woke up at night. He decided to shoot off a few rounds to try and get the attention of someone. If he aims 65 degrees above the horizontal and fires a bullet that leaves his gun at 410.00 m/s over the cliff how long will the bullet rise? ...continues