Ok, that helps. The reason I thought it was wrong was because I set it equal to zero and didn't know why. Thank you so much for helping me through this. I really appreciate it.
alright. I got the answer, but I think i did it in an unorthodox way.
here is my work:
0= (7600)(69.3)+ m_{gas}(-3200)
0=526680+(-3200)m
-526680= -3200m
m=164.6 (with significant digits)=160 kg
however, i set the first half to zero which I think was the wrong way to solve it.
ok, another question (i'm sorry to bother you) but when I set up the conservation of momentum equation, will it look like this:
m_{probe}v_{initial of probe}= m_{probe}(V_{x}+V_{y})+ m_{gas}V_{gas}
(7600kg)(120 m/s)= (7600)(\sqrt{120^2+69.3^2})+m(gass)(-3200)
I'm guessing that the gas is being shot at 3200 m/s, 270 degrees pushing the probe up. is that correct? Also, would the gas be pushing the probe up at 3200 m/s, 90 degrees? I set up another velocity vector triangle and I got 69.3 m/s, 90 degrees for the y-component. Is that correct?
I was thinking that while the rockets are producing a thrust that the probe is still moving the original 120 m/s at 0.0 degrees and with those x and y components it cause the probe to move in the 30 degree direction. But I was just assuming, it doesn't state it in the problem. About thrust, the...
Homework Statement
a robotic space probe of mass 7600 KG is traveling through space at 120 m/s. Mission control determines that a change in course of 30.0 degrees is necessary and instructs the probe to fire rockets perpendicular to its direction of motion. If the escaping gas leaves the...