What is the Mach number for a shuttle if it starts re-entry after travelling around Eath in 1.495 h at an orbital radius of 6.73X10^-6m? Assume that the air temperature is -30 Degrees celcius....
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what i did:
found speed of air...took the radius divided it by time to find speed of plane...and i got 1250m/s...
i used that speed and divided it my speed of air...and got mach 3.98...
Back of book...the answer says its mach 25 speed of shuttle is 7.86X10^3m/s
2007-04-14 13:09:04 · 3 answers · asked by no name 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Did you remember that the distance travelled by the Shuttle (one orbit in 1.495 hours) was 2π*6.73X10^6 meters? Betcha left out the 2π, didn't you?
HTH☺
Doug
2007-04-14 13:25:22 · answer #1 · answered by doug_donaghue 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Whoops!
The shuttle is travelling 2 * pi * radius in that 1.495 hours.
I take it that the orbital radius is 6.73 * 10^+6 ?
2007-04-14 13:25:45 · answer #2 · answered by lunchtime_browser 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
dont forget that the velocity of sound at higher altitudes decreases.Hence an aircraft travelling at a same velocityat different altitudes will have different mach no.(higher at higher altitudes for the same velocity)
2007-04-14 21:29:16 · answer #3 · answered by Joe 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋