An astronaut is marooned on a distant planet and is attempting to repair his spa

Question

An astronaut is marooned on a distant planet and is attempting to repair his spaceship. In order to be successful in reaching orbit, the astronaut needs to know the acceleration due to gravity on this planet. (It is NOT 9.80 m/s^2.) To determine this value, he throws an object into the air with an initial velocity of 6.5 m/s and measures its position as a function of time. Shown below are the data taken by the astronaut: the height is measured from the point of release. Plot the position as a function of time. Calculate the acceleration due to gravity on this planet. There is more than one way to do this calculation. Graph 10 pts: calculation 10 pts: 20 pts total.

Explanation / Answer

for plotting graph, take height along vertical and time along horizontal with (0.5,2.562) ,(2,2) ,(3.841,1.18) , (3.75,1) as the points and a line joining these 4 points on the graph is the required graph.

Now, 2=6.5*2-0.5*a*22

or 2a=13-2=11

a=5.5m/s2

similarly,0.5=6.5*2.562-0.5*a*2.5622 gives a=4.92

Similarly,3.75=6.5*1-0.5*a*12 gives a=5.5

And 3.841=6.5*1.18-0.5*a*1.182 gives a= 5.499

Final value of a= average of all values obtained =4.92+5.5+5.5+5.49 / 4 = 5.35m/s2

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse A
• Subjects

---

---

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.