Chapter 10 Projectile Motion & Satellite Motion

Conceptual Question
Velma, the space woman, orbiting at 100 mi. above the earths surface, feels weightless because . . . (hint: Earth radius = 3,959 miles (6,371 km)
a. she is away from the earths pull of gravity b. she is in a vacuum. c. she is falling freely around the earth. d. actually, she doesnt feel weightless e. she went on a diet.

Conceptual Question - Answer

Velma, the space woman, orbiting at 100 mi. above the earths surface, feels weightless because . . . (hint: Earth radius = 3,959 miles (6,371 km)
a. she is away from the earths pull of gravity b. she is in a vacuum. c. she is falling freely around the earth. d. actually, she doesnt feel weightless e. she went on a diet.

Describe the motion of the ball rolling on the table. How can you tell? (ans to previous slide = C she is in free fall)

Describe the motion of the dropped ball. How can you tell?

Projectile
An object projected by some means that continues to move by its own inertia near the surface of the earth. (Only force is gravity) Examples: cannonball, baseball, rock. Usually neglect air resistance.

Projectile motion
We can think of taking a more complicated two dimensional flight and converting it into two less complicated one dimensional flights. Recall: dividing the launch velocity into a vertical and horizontal part. The horizontal component of velocity (Range) is completely independent of the vertical component (and gravity!) when air drag is small enough to ignore

Fig. 10.2

Projectile paths:
Always a parabola for any launch that is not straight up. What happens if it is straight up? What type of motion is this?

Projectiles launched horizontally

Calculating range or speed of a horizontally fired projectile (neglecting air resistance)

What is the horizontal speed of the ball?

If The ball is thrown from a tower 20 m high at 40 m/s, how far will it go?

Calculating range or speed of a horizontally fired projectile (neglecting air resistance)

Vertical velocity determines two crucial issues:

Maximum vertical distance above the ground Time of flight (how does it do this?!!!)

Launching at an angle (the golf shot or bomb drop)

What happens if we turn off gravity? With gravity on, the projectile falls below the ideal straight line the same amount as it would if dropped from rest. (always gt2/2 or 5t2 below the straight non-gravity path). Horizontally it moves with constant velocity (in the absence of air resistance).

Fig. 10.7

The vertical distance of fall beneath the idealized straight-line Path is the same for equal times

Fig. 10.8

Summary-Projectile Launched at an Angle Velocity of a projectile points along its trajectory.

Vertical component changes.

Horizontal component is the same everywhere.

For a given angle, range increases with velocity.

For a given velocity range is the same for complementary angles. Maximum range 450 (neglecting air resistance).

Orbital Motion, or . . . really fast horizontal launch

If I throw a ball horizontally (with no air resistance) it drops about __5__ m in one second. Why / How? For every 8 km (8000m) one moves horizontally, the earth drops about 5 m. I would like to throw the ball at 8000 m/s (about 17,900 mph).

Fast Moving Projectiles and Satellites

Newtons cannon
If I could fire the cannon ball with a horizontal speed of 8000 m/s what would happen? In 1 s, the ball drops 5mbut the earth curves down 5m also, so how far is the ball above the surface? The ball falls around the earth. We say it is in orbit.

Fig. 10.24

Real orbits
To maintain our horizontal speed, we must get out of the atmosphere. The orbital speed at 100 mi above the earths surface is slightly lower, because the acceleration due to gravity is slightly less. Why? FG 1/d2

Satellite Orbits
Speed depends on altitude (really distance from the center of the earth). As g gets smaller, v can be smaller to match the curvature of the earth. If v is bigger than necessary, the orbit is an ellipse or it escapes the planets pull.
Circular Orbit: 8 km/s Elliptical Orbit: > 8 km/s < 11.2 km/s Escape Velocity: 11.2 km/s

Why does the force of gravity not change the speed and thus kinetic energy? No work done because F is perpendicular to v.

Questions:
Why dont things in orbit fall? Answer ?

Why are astronauts weightless? Answer ?

Questions:
Why dont things in orbit fall? Answer: They do! They are in free fall!

Why are astronauts weightless? Answer: They are not. They are in free fall with all their stuff!