A space craft flying in a straight course with a velocity of 75 km s-1 fires its rocket motors for 6.0 s. At the end of this time, its speed is 120 km s-1 in the same direction.
Find —
(i) the space craft’s average acceleration while the motors were firing
(ii) the distance travelled by the space craft in the first 10 s after the rocket motors were started, the motors having been in action for only 6.0 s.
(i) As we know,
v - u = at
Given,
u = 75 km s-1
v = 120 km s-1
t = 6 s
Substituting the values in the formula above we get,
Hence, acceleration = 7.5 km s-2
(ii) As we know,
S = ut + at2
For the first 6 s,
u = 75 km s-1
a = 7.5 km s-2
Hence, S1 = 585 km
For the next 4 s
S2 = speed x time
Given,
t = 4 s
speed = 120 km s -1
Substituting the values in the formula above, we get,
Hence, S2 = 480 km
Total distance covered by the aircraft = S1 + S2
= 585 + 480
= 1065 km
Hence,
Total distance covered by the aircraft = 1065 km.