- #1
Count Iblis
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Homework problem given by Count Iblis to the PF community:
Consider a box containing a pendulum of total mass M in a spacecraft that is in free falling motion. Suppose that the engines of the spacecraft are turned on and the spacecraft is accelerating at acceleration a, where a is parallel to the orientation of the pendulum, so it can swing with angular frequency omega = sqrt(a/L), where L is the length of the pendulum).
Suppose we don't let the pendulum swing by making sure we don't accelerate the box in the direction perpendicular to the orientation of the pendulum, the acceleration of the spacecraft is at all times parallel to the orientation of the pendulum.
What is the mass of the box?
Consider a box containing a pendulum of total mass M in a spacecraft that is in free falling motion. Suppose that the engines of the spacecraft are turned on and the spacecraft is accelerating at acceleration a, where a is parallel to the orientation of the pendulum, so it can swing with angular frequency omega = sqrt(a/L), where L is the length of the pendulum).
Suppose we don't let the pendulum swing by making sure we don't accelerate the box in the direction perpendicular to the orientation of the pendulum, the acceleration of the spacecraft is at all times parallel to the orientation of the pendulum.
What is the mass of the box?