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A 70-kg astronaut floating in space in a 110-kg MMU (manned maneuvering unit) experiences an acceleration of 0.029m/s^2 when he fires one of the MMU's thrusters.

If the speed of the escaping N_2 gas relative to the astronaut is 490 m/s, how much gas is used by the thruster in 5.0 s?

What is the thrust of the thruster?

2007-03-11 16:19:17 · 1 answers · asked by dimachevelle 2 in Science & Mathematics Physics

1 answers

The thrust is F = dm/dt * v where dm/dt is the amount of mass being ejected in kg/second. v is the velocity of the ejected material.

The acceleration on the astronaut is a = F/M where F is the thrust and m is the total mass 70kg + 110kg = 180kg

so a = dm/dt * v / M

I will let you work the numbers and solve for dm/dt which is the amount of gas used per second. Don't forget that you want the number for 5 seconds and I am assuming that the mass of the gas used is negligible compared to the total mass.

2007-03-11 16:39:12 · answer #1 · answered by rscanner 6 · 1 2

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