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Question 19 - Apollo 13/Newton in the Driver's Seat (2 Viewers)

simonj2

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xrtzx said:
i agree, because they have to escape the moon's grav pull. BUt it was kinda gay, maybe i didnt read the entire q but was it me or did it say the spacecraft exploded?? if it did wouldnt they all die? lol, it didnt say they escaped lol.

But then again i dont read the q much lol :p
It didn't explode :) haven't you seen apollo 13? does seeing that give me an unfair advantage?

i just wrote about the slingshot effect... and about how physics saved them... that should impress the markers...
 

richz

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well, i think i read, the ship exploded due to sum reason
 

B.J

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So i guess im the only person that said its a ridiculous statement because Newton died hundreds of years ago and wouldnt know how to control a spaceship anyway
 

richz

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lol, nice answer, i wud give u full marks if it was for creativity
 

Captain Gh3y

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B.J said:
So i guess im the only person that said its a ridiculous statement because Newton died hundreds of years ago and wouldnt know how to control a spaceship anyway
Haha, wow, if you're telling the truth, that right there is an example of how the BoS is disadvantaging would-be physics students using english.
Also, if you are serious, you may be in danger of having your paper cancelled (??) for writing frivolous/objectionable material.

KFunk said:
Figuratively speaking Newton was in the driver's seat 'cause the motion of the shuttle/rocket thingo was due to newton's laws and his eq'ns of gravity. It was more like an english task - explaining the function of figurative speech in language and how the Newton reference made sense contextually.
I noticed that with the figurative speech, but after I wrote that I found it very difficult to figure out what we were supposed to discuss... as this thread has shown, people have talked about the slingshot affect, re-entry factors, Newton's laws (both gravitational and the 3 force laws...) etc.
 

tabularasa

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i felt liek writing houston we have a problem. then i talked about escape velocity and slingshot effect stuff lie that.
 

Abtari

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well, that question had nothing to do with escape velocity or newton's hypothetical scenario regarding escape velocity... the rocket was still able to burn fuel and so wasn't a projectile..
 

richz

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mate read the threads before u talk, how the fuck are the ppl meant to escape the lunar orbit........... u need to talk about escape v too. u need to escape the moons grav pulll
 

Captain Gh3y

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it says after the rocket completed its burn
This is what stopped me from talking about the Slingshot Effect, because (i've forgotten already) didn't it say they did the burn after circling the moon?

In the actual slingshot effect with satellites, there's no firing of motors after they swing out of the planet's orbit. Therefore this isn't really a slingshot effect scenario.... I think.
 

B.J

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Captain Gh3y said:
Haha, wow, if you're telling the truth, that right there is an example of how the BoS is disadvantaging would-be physics students using english.
Also, if you are serious, you may be in danger of having your paper cancelled (??) for writing frivolous/objectionable material.


haha yes i am serious but i did put other stuff in about slingshot and gravity and shit aswell for my real answer.

After thinking of that as an answer i couldnt help putting it in, it made me laugh during the exam, and i had to show whoevers marking my paper the shitness of their questions...that'll show them
 

Xayma

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fadykozman said:
slingshot effect, escape velocity.

Note that escape velocity is needed, how else is the shuttle will go back to earth if its KE is not > GPE with respect to the moon?
Umm well due to the lack of lunar atmosphere it will get at least as far as it was after it's last rocket burn. The escape velocity is redundant as it isnt fully escaping the moon's gravity (just trying to reach a point where the moon's gravity and Earth's gravity are equal) and it will gain that velocity from travelling from the Earth.

Of course I don't know the actual question so this is just guessing based off other responses to the question.
 

rithvikt

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yeh i talked about...reentry, sling shot effect..and i used the newtonian concept of escape velocity....
 

lum

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but how is that justifying what the guy said?? i mean, the guy said after the fuel was burnt, newton went to sit.
i dun get how talkin bout slingshot effect and escape velocity have to do with this statement, rather, i thought the qs was saying what did the guy imply by saying newton sitting down AFTER the fuel was burnt.
so to justify this statement, i went on how the rocket would need to accelerate deccelearate in order to esacape the moon and also get bak towards earth, BUT since it said newton only sat on the seat AFTER the rocket's fuel was burnt, ie. accelerated, now what do you get wif a guy in an accelerating spacecraft not tied up against a chair? he'd get flung around..., so i said newton would get hurt if he the statement was true.
 

flying_dragon

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I talked about Newton's laws and how by creating a force with the rocket engine, the spacecraft accelerated and got home quicker, increasing the chances of survival for the astronauts. And then, cos I was out of physics ideas, I said that Newton invented calculus to assist him in working out orbits and stuff, and that Newton's theories on orbital mechanics helps Lovell, because he uses them in calculating the length of the burn and stuff, cos he had to turn off his targeting computer (that sounds familiar...Use the Force, Jim!)
 

Xenocide

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I am with Captain Gh3y again. The question said AFTER the burn had been completed. The burn was required to get them out of moon's gravity and implies that the slingshot manouvre had already been completed. He THEN said that Newton was in the driving seat, so while i dont think you will lose marks for talking about it I doubt it will be required.
 

Abtari

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Xenocide said:
I am with Captain Gh3y again. The question said AFTER the burn had been completed. The burn was required to get them out of moon's gravity and implies that the slingshot manouvre had already been completed. He THEN said that Newton was in the driving seat, so while i dont think you will lose marks for talking about it I doubt it will be required.
mate whats with the capitalising of 'then'....

if u read the question, u will see that the quote that the astronaut said regarding Newton is at the end of the question, after the scenario had been given... i.e. it doesn't mean oh, he said newton was in the driving sear only after this.. or only after that...

thats my opinion.

oh and xrtzx, the definition of escape velocity is the velocity with which an object must be launched/projected such that it has enough energy to escape the gravitational field of a heavenly object completely.... as i said before, the rocket in the question wasn't a projectile and it wasn't completely out of fuel either...(although it had been crippled, it was still able to get back to earth). my point is it wasn't about escape velocity.

feel free to disagree.
 
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Xenocide

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You sure? I seem to remember the question as saying "after the burn was completed Jim Lovell was reported as saying { ---- }", and after the burn implies after the slingshot maneuvre
 

Abtari

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yeah, after the burn implies the slingshot manouevre... perfect
 

Abtari

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lum said:
but how is that justifying what the guy said?? i mean, the guy said after the fuel was burnt, newton went to sit.
i dun get how talkin bout slingshot effect and escape velocity have to do with this statement, rather, i thought the qs was saying what did the guy imply by saying newton sitting down AFTER the fuel was burnt.
so to justify this statement, i went on how the rocket would need to accelerate deccelearate in order to esacape the moon and also get bak towards earth, BUT since it said newton only sat on the seat AFTER the rocket's fuel was burnt, ie. accelerated, now what do you get wif a guy in an accelerating spacecraft not tied up against a chair? he'd get flung around..., so i said newton would get hurt if he the statement was true.
u said newton will hurt himself when he falls off the seat?... rofl

the statement 'newton is in the driving seat now' metaphorically implies that forces of gravity are now controlling the motion of the craft...

and btw, someone talked about it being a q on safe re-entry and shit... well obviously whoever that was had gone to the exam memorising the syllabus, and anyway, wth does safe re-entry have to do with 'newton' being in 'control'?
 

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