PmWiki | THS / Centripetal1

This assignment will be handed in and graded on Monday. NEATLY show all of your work. Use neat, clear diagrams that are properly labeled. Show all units. Provide answers in both metric (MKS) and English units that are easy to understand for the average adult.

Question 1 - 3: Suppose you have a single roller coaster car that has a weight of 1000 lb (including its two occupants. After a level stretch of track there is 16 m vertical loop that is circular. Show all of your work, set up and energy table.

1. Calculate the entry speed of the car in order to just make it to the top of the loop.

2. Of course, if you used this speed, you would kill the passengers because the car would fall straight down at the top of the loop. What you really want to do is to have enough residual speed at the top of the loop to perfectly balance the force (acceleration) due to gravity. In other words, you want your centripetal acceleration to equal that of gravity. In that case, calculate the appropriate entry speed of the car. (in ft/s, m/s, and mph)

3. Given the situation above, what sensation would the passengers feel at the top of the loop?

Questions 4 - 10: Twenty years ago a space shuttle carried the Hubble Space Telescope into space and launched it into and orbit around the earth. Get ready to Google some data and calculate some energy requirements and orbital results...

4. What (Google) is the mass & weight of the space shuttle (dry weight--no payload, fuel or booster rockets)?

5. The HST is often compared to the size of a school bus. What (Google) is the mass & weight of the Hubble Space Telescope?

6. Find (Google) the orbital altitude of the HST (how high above the surface of the earth)? (ft, m, and miles)

7. What (Google) is the diameter of the earth? (miles & km) Draw a scale diagram of the Hubble's orbit around the earth. Use a 10 cm circle to represent the earth.

8. Assume for a moment that the centripetal acceleration of the Hubble (and shuttle) as they orbit the earth are equal to the 1 g. Do you think this is true?? Well, assuming that this is true, calculate the orbital velocity of the HST needed to sustain this orbital altitude.

9. Calculate how much energy it must take to put the space shuttle and HST into orbit.

10. How much energy is in a gallon of gasoline (Google)? How many gallons of gasoline would it take to put the space shuttle and HST into orbit? Estimate the volume of Tyngsborough High School and compare the amount of gasoline energy required to the size of the school.