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kiwikahuna
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Homework Statement
a rocket of mass 1.5e6 kg is launched upward from the surface of the Earth (mass Me =5.97e24, radius Re = 6.38 X 10^6m) with a speed of 0.5 x 10^4 m/s. What is the maximum altitude the rocket will reach above the surface of the Earth?
Homework Equations
1/2 mv1^2 - (GmM)/R1 = 1/2 mv2^2 - (GmM)/R2
where m is the mass of the rocket
v1 is the velocity of the rocket (at rest?)
G = 6.67e-11 (constant)
m= mass of rocket
M = mass of Earth
v2 = velocity of rocket
R1 = radius of Earth
R2 = radius we are trying to find
The Attempt at a Solution
I plugged in numbers for the above equation and my answer was 3.18559e7. This is a very wrong answer but what did I do wrong?