The “Vomit Comet.” In microgravity astronaut training and equipment testing, NASA flies a KC135A aircraft along a parabolic flight path. As shown in Figure P4.59, the aircraft climbs from 24 000 ft to 31 000 ft, where it enters a parabolic path with a velocity of 143 m/s nose high at 45.0° and exits with velocity 143 m/s at 45.0° nose low. During this portion of the flight, the aircraft and objects inside its padded cabin are in free fall; astronauts and equipment float freely as if there were no gravity. What are the aircraft’s (a) speed and (b) altitude at the top of the maneuver? (c) What is the time interval spent in microgravity?
The “Vomit Comet.” In microgravity astronaut training and equipment testing, NASA flies a KC135A aircraft along a parabolic flight path. As shown in Figure P4.59, the aircraft climbs from 24 000 ft to 31 000 ft, where it enters a parabolic path with a velocity of 143 m/s nose high at 45.0° and exits with velocity 143 m/s at 45.0° nose low. During this portion of the flight, the aircraft and objects inside its padded cabin are in free fall; astronauts and equipment float freely as if there were no gravity. What are the aircraft’s (a) speed and (b) altitude at the top of the maneuver? (c) What is the time interval spent in microgravity?
Solution Summary: The author explains the speed of the aircraft and the altitude at the top of a maneuver.
The “Vomit Comet.” In microgravity astronaut training and equipment testing, NASA flies a KC135A aircraft along a parabolic flight path. As shown in Figure P4.59, the aircraft climbs from 24 000 ft to 31 000 ft, where
it enters a parabolic path with a velocity of 143 m/s nose high at 45.0° and exits with velocity 143 m/s at 45.0° nose low. During this portion of the flight, the aircraft and objects inside its padded cabin are in free fall; astronauts and equipment float freely as if there were no gravity. What are the aircraft’s (a) speed and (b) altitude at the top of the maneuver? (c) What is the time interval spent in microgravity?
Olympus Mons on Mars is the largest volcano in the solar system, at a height of 25 km and with a radius of 312 km. If you are standing on the summit, with what initial velocity (in m/s) would you have to fire a projectile from a cannon horizontally to clear the volcano and land on the surface of Mars? Note that Mars has an acceleration of gravity of 3.7 m/s2. (Assume the volcano is radially symmetric and the summit is at its center. Enter the magnitude.)
Steven is flying at 250 knots in his Spitfire. He knows that he can withstand a maximum acceleration of 5.5 g
before blacking out (g = 9.8 m/S^2). What is the radius of the tightest horizontal turn (to the nearest m) that
he can make and remain conscious?
(A) 307 m
(B) 1160 m
(C) 3007 m
(D) 46 m
An airplane is cruising at a speed of 257.2 m/s along a straight line andmakes a turn along a circular path level with the ground. What should be the radius (in kilometers) of the circular trajectory be to produce a centripetal acceleration of 3g, where g is the acceleration due to gravity, on the pilot and the plane?
(A) 1.73 km
(B) 2.58 km
(C) 1.99 km
(D) 2.25 km
(E) None of these
Chapter 4 Solutions
Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Technology Update (No access codes included)
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