RandomStudent
Feb26-08, 06:40 PM
Is anyone familiar with the "Space Rescue" Program? It's a program that involves a ship and a pod. The ship and pod travel horizontally and at a certain point when the pod is launched, the ship and the pod travel in separate directions. As a viewer it is only possible to see where the ship's final location is. The pod does not appear on the screen. The objective is to determine the location of the pod (and "rescue it") based on the following information:
- mass of ship (given) - Ms
- mass of pod (given) - Mp
- time from pod launch to rescue (given)
- location of the ship (self-determined through seeing its x- and y-coordinates)
In class we are using the program to enrich our study of momentum in two dimensions. However, I don't quite understand how to use the program. I think that to determine the x- and y-coordinates of the pod, the conservation of momentum is used.
Momentum before = momentum after
Px = Px'
(Ms + Mp)Vsp = MsVs' + MpVp'
and same for the y-component of momentum.
Any help or information on this program is much appreciated! Thanks!
- mass of ship (given) - Ms
- mass of pod (given) - Mp
- time from pod launch to rescue (given)
- location of the ship (self-determined through seeing its x- and y-coordinates)
In class we are using the program to enrich our study of momentum in two dimensions. However, I don't quite understand how to use the program. I think that to determine the x- and y-coordinates of the pod, the conservation of momentum is used.
Momentum before = momentum after
Px = Px'
(Ms + Mp)Vsp = MsVs' + MpVp'
and same for the y-component of momentum.
Any help or information on this program is much appreciated! Thanks!