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what would be the advantage of building an interplanetary spacecraft thatcould accelerate at 1 g (9.8 m/s^2) for a year?


its a part of my lab and i dont understand it and every answer i get i still dont understand..please help!

2007-01-23 13:25:00 · 3 answers · asked by Hidden 4 in Science & Mathematics Physics

3 answers

Advantage 1: Earth-like gravity
Advantage 2: v=at v= 9.8x31536000
v= 309052800
or
3.1x10^8 m/s (faster than the speed of light!!!)

2007-01-23 13:47:40 · answer #1 · answered by motz39baseball 3 · 0 0

Well, the biggest advantage is that the acceleration would be the same as gravity on the Earth.

Okay, imagine you're riding in a car and somebody stomps on the gas. You get pushed back into your seat, right? Well, that is from acceleration. If you have enough power, the force (acceleration) pushing you into the back of the seat is the same as the force (gravity) pushing you down on the bottom cushion.

Now. Assume that the spacecraft was shaped like a skyscraper going "straight up." In space, the acceleration would push the people down towards the floor -- just the way that gravity pushes people down towards the floor in a real skyscraper on Earth.

So in effect you'd have "artificial gravity" in the microgravity environment of space, for all the time the spacecraft was accelerating. People would be able to walk, stand, pour coffee, eat Rice Krispies, play basketball, etc. just like they do on Earth, because the acceleration would have the same force as gravity.

The "for a year" part is where you'll have to do some math. Calculate how fast the spacecraft will be going after 1 year of acceleration at 1 g. It's probably pretty darn fast. :-)

2007-01-23 21:39:36 · answer #2 · answered by Scott F 5 · 0 0

Hmmmmm.....I'm not sure either really....lol.

I guess if I knew more about the assignment I could answer you better, but the only thing that comes to my mind off-hand is that perhaps if you had a vehicle that could accelerate appropriately and gain enough speed the '1 g' would be the gravitational constant of the planet earth, and you could simply use the planets 'g' force to accelerate during transit. Altho I don't know how you could lift off from a planet you landed on this way, I don't think you'd be able to accelerate enough to break free and get under way again.

Like I said, I don't know what all the parameters are of whatever assignment you're asking about, so I'm just guessing.

....sorry, but maybe something I said can help you some anyway. Good luck.

2007-01-23 21:35:30 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

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