An astronaut on a distant planet wants to determine its acceleration due to grav

Question

An astronaut on a distant planet wants to determine its acceleration due to gravity. The astronaut throws a rock straight up with a velocity of + 11.3 m/s and measures a time of 14.7 s before the rock returns to his hand. What is the acceleration (magnitude and direction) due to gravity on this planet? (positive = up, negative = down)

Explanation / Answer

The rock is thrown straight up with a velocity 11.3 m/sec. Its velocity will decrease as acceleration due to gravity acts in opposite direction to its motion and at some height it will reach zero velocity and starts falling down as a freely falling object. Let it takes time t to reach maximum height. Then the astronaut will measure time 2t = 14.7 seconds before the rock returns to his hand. =>t = 7.35 seconds v = u+at Initial velocity = u = 11.3 m/sec v = final velocity = 0 We need to find a. =>0 = 11.3+a*7.35 =>a = -1.537415 m/sec^2 So the acceleration due to gravity on this planet is 1.537415m/sec^2 and it is acting in the downward direction.

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