Preflight assignment 4


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  1. Go back over the steps in Taylor section 1.5, on "Multiparticle systems" (p. 20 and 21), which proves conservation of momentum, for the specific case N=3 (i.e, there are particles labeled 1,2, and 3 making up the system). Write out all the summations explicitly, to make sure you understand the somewhat mathematically formal manipulations going on. In the space below, summarize. (Ex: My ASCII notation for "the force of 1 on particle 3" might be "F13")




  2. Look at Taylor Example 3.1 Suppose in that figure, velocity v1 = (+1,+1) m/s, and v2=(1,-2) m/s. Suppose further that m1=2m2. What is the angle between the final velocity of the "blob" (v), and the initial velocity labeled v1?




  3. Look at Taylor's rocket formula (3.8) (Set v(exhaust)=1 for simplicity) Consider two cases: 1) M(fuel) = .8 M(initial) (i.e. you burn up 80% of your initial launch mass) and 2) You use a 2 stage burn. In stage 1 you burn up .4 M(initial), then dump the used up stage 1 rocket tank which has mass 0.1 M(initial), and then you burn the remaining 0.4 M(initial) as a "second stage" burn. In both cases, you burned the same amount of fuel. Compare your final speeds, and comment.




  4. Please submit a question you have about the reading assigned for the upcoming class. What seemed hard, was something confusing, what would you like us to spend class time on? If you can't come up with any question, how about a comment - (did anything strike you as interesting? )
    Reminder: the reading assignments are on our course calendar


    Thanks for your time.

Optional! - below is a space for any additional relevant comments, thoughts, or suggestions you have.




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