Problem 3.14: A space probe travels with a constant acceleration
Please wait for the animation to completely load.
In the animation shown, a space probe has engines that can fire on all four sides (position is given in meters and time is given in seconds). Two of the engines engage at t = 5 s. Restart The acceleration is constant and zero before the engines engage, and it is constant (but not equal to zero) after the engines engage.
- What is the initial velocity of the probe just before the engines fire?
- What is the acceleration of the probe after the engines fire?
- Assuming the engines continue to fire in the same way, what will be the position and velocity of the probe at t = 25 s?
- At what instant is vx = 0? At what instant is vy = 0?
Problem authored by Aaron Titus with support by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DUE-9952323 and placed in the public domain.
Physlets were developed at Davidson College and converted from Java to JavaScript using the SwingJS system developed at St. Olaf College.
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